Sailor Ranko: Tunnel Vision
by burgerbecky
Summary: Completed fic. Sailor Sun/Ranma - Sailor Moon - Terminator Crossover, Sequel to Sailor Ranko / Twice In a Millenium
1. Prologue

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Prologue  
  
A continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
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Ranma and Akane hadn't been in Nerima for several weeks and were happy to be back. They were visiting the Tendo dojo for the weekend. Living in Juuban in their new apartment had been an adventure of boredom. Since the wedding, there just hadn't been the usual number of psychos trying to pummel, beat, maim, marry, kidnap or otherwise introduce mayhem into the Ranma Saotome household. In fact, it was rather dull.  
  
Even the weekly meetings with the other Sailor Senshi were just reruns. Setsuna was sitting by herself off to the side. Rei complained about Ami, Minako, and Makoto comparing potential boyfriends and Usagi was eating everything in sight. Although Ranma was welcome to the meetings as a guy, lately he had been changing into a girl for the meetings. It just seemed more comfortable. Akane, or Sailor Io as she was now known, had truly been accepted among the Senshi and had made friends with all of them.  
  
Ranma still taught the other Senshi martial arts to improve the other's battle skills. These lessons were almost always in the form of a guy. Sometimes that cursed old woman with the ladle happened to cross his path. Without easy access to hot water at the dojo, the lesson was with Ranko. However Usagi's whining was really getting on Ranma's nerves. How can this crybaby become a queen someday? Seeing the stress in Ranma, Akane suggested that they spent the weekend away from it all.  
  
So in the span of two hours, the time it took to get from the bus station to the Tendo dojo, Ranma was smacked with a battle spatula, ran over with a bike, listened to really bad poetry and had someone demand payment for his dad's debts. He also had four sex changes. Yes, nothing had changed in Nerima.  
  
Akane immediately started chatting with Kasumi about life as Mrs. Saotome. Kasumi gave some suggestions about being a good wife and had a tinge of envy in her voice. Ranma thought, "Now if only Akane learn to not attempt culinary homicide, I'll be set."  
  
Cooking, shopping, and cleaning were the duties that Akane performed at the apartment with an air of happiness. She was now a married woman. Finally. She performed her duty for the love she had of her husband. Yet Ranma seemed so out of touch. He felt he should be happier. No one had tried to kill him in the last four weeks if you didn't count today.  
  
"What is wrong with me?" thought Ranma. He excused himself from the one sided conversation that Akane was having with her sister and went upstairs to his former bedroom. He looked at the very barren looking room and remembered the time he spent there with his dad. There was a place for two to sleep here. Just like old times. Now, Nodoka slept where Ranma used to. Sometimes things changed, sometimes they didn't.  
  
A new addition to the room was a large mirror near the closet. He remembered that it belonged to his mother and stood before it. Ranma looked at himself in the mirror. Then a feeling came over him as if what was reflected was wrong.  
  
He gazed at the outline of his face, raised his hand and softly touched the glass before him. The past few months have shaken his outlook on life and his future. Ranma placed a hand on his cheek and softly stroked his skin not really aware that he began to tremble.   
  
In a quick motion, Ranma turned and went to the bathroom. A rapid turn of the faucet, a small cup was filled and a flick of the wrist later. Ranko stared into the bathroom mirror. Once again, the left hand went up to the chin and Ranko looked into her own blue eyes. "Who am I?" asked Ranko to herself.   
  
This was a valid question indeed. All of Ranko's life had been spent in the pursuit of martial arts. Training, traveling and a splash in a Chinese spring had brought her to where she is today. Genma spent the last ten years teaching Ranko the ways of the art and giving what now appeared to be very bad advice. Boys didn't hit girls. Boys didn't eat ice cream in public. Boys didn't sing karaoke. Boys didn't cry. Boys ran off from their wives. Boys lied to people for food. Boys made stupid promises. Boys married off their sons to everyone they meet. Boys shouldn't act like girls.  
  
In a normal world, boys didn't become girls. Ranko's world was far from normal. Looking at herself and the two big clues on her chest that gave away the gender of the hour, she gave out a very soft sigh. Lifting her right hand, she produced the henshin stick. The awesome power that she possessed in her hand once again reminded her that she had a new destiny before her. But where did Ranma fit in this? True, she spent most of her time as Ranma recently, but when the world was in peril, Ranma was almost powerless.  
  
Sailor Sun had not been called upon for four weeks. Ranko missed her. The past months had finally gotten Ranko to accept that the girl-side was truly a part of her. Something that needed to be protected instead of "cured". Removing that part of her was the same as lopping off her arm. Ranko was Ranma. Ranma was Ranko.   
  
"But where am I going? Why me? Who am I really?"  
  
"Why, you are my child, that's who." Ranko turned to the bathroom door rather startled and flung her stick at her mother. Nodoka caught it and continued, "You need to mutter a little more quietly."  
  
"Whew, you scared me mom!"  
  
"Scared you? I didn't mean to. What is troubling you? Is there something you want to talk about my child?" Nodoka looked at the henshin stick and asked, "This is beautiful. Is this why you are talking to yourself?"  
  
Ranko realized that she was so focused in thought that she let her guard down. Normally, she would have heard her mother coming from downstairs. Yet, she was able to scare her and even get a hold of the stick. "Oops," thought Ranko, "Can I have that back please mom?"  
  
Nodoka looked at the stick and guessed correctly what it was and asked, "What is it like?"  
  
"What is what like?"  
  
"Being a Senshi of course."  
  
Ranko was not prepared to answer that question. She came to the realization right then and there that that was the issue all along. "Well, it's difficult to explain. You get a feeling of power. You just can't describe it. Nothing I've ever done even comes close to that feeling. And when we work together, I feel a sense of belonging."  
  
"To the Senshi?"  
  
"No, more than that. Like I've been shown my destiny and I'm still... Uh... I don't know. It's not what I expected how my life would turn out."  
  
"What else is it like? Being a magical girl I mean?"  
  
Ranko thought about that question. Only months ago, She would have gotten a fit of depression about being called a magical girl. But now, it felt like a compliment. She had never really sat down and talked about this new part of herself and she was certain her mother was dying of curiosity. After all, there are news reports of Senshi sightings but no one had actually interviewed one on TV. So only rumors were what fueled the urban legend that was the Sailor Senshi.  
  
"Well, when I am Sailor Sun, I can heal really fast, run faster, jump higher, I mean, I can almost fly. It's just something you can't put into words. The other Senshi are very supportive of me and they're my friends. They help me get in touch with my powers and help me to use them."  
  
"It must be amazing. Being able to possess this power. Is there anything else about being a Senshi?"  
  
"I dunno."  
  
"Ok, how about this. Why are you called Sailor Sun?"  
  
"Do you have about a week?"  
  
"Long story?"  
  
"Really long, mind blowingly long, Akane still is getting used to the idea. But then, my whole life has been one long story."  
  
Nodoka turned to face Ranko, "How is Akane taking this? I mean being married to a Senshi is something most husbands would have a difficult time with, but a wife?"  
  
Ranko shuddered; She forgot that her mother didn't know that Akane was a Senshi too. In fact, mom was the only person here who knew about Sailor Sun. "She actually is quite happy for me."  
  
"She is? I'm glad Ranko," mom smiled. "Women in the Saotome clan go through so much stress."  
  
"You can say that again mom." Ranko kept her thoughts to herself, "Ranko? Yes, that was the name my mother knew me by for the longest time. Damn you dad! The Mr. Panda and Ranko act sure did more harm than good. All that time that I was with my mother and I couldn't show her that I was her child. Now my mom can remember all those times and feel bitter that she was so close and yet so far from me. I'm amazed my mother didn't get dragged to the funny farm after the deception was finally exposed."  
  
"I'm curious. How does this thing work?" Nodoka finally handed back the stick to Ranko and she took it.  
  
"Well, I can't exactly use it right now. It's not something I'm supposed to show off."  
  
"Oh, I see. Do you want to go somewhere more private?"  
  
Huh? Thought Ranko, "did she want me to transform for her? Sure, why not, after all, she already knew I'm a Senshi and she is my mother." Ranko said, "Ok, but it does make some noise when I use it."  
  
"Well the house is empty right now. Kasumi and Akane just went to the store to get groceries for dinner and the rest are not here."  
  
Ranko shut the bathroom door and held the stick in the air. "It goes like this mom, Sun Star Power, Make Up!" The light from the henshin stick blinded Nodoka for just a second and she held her eyes onto her child as she did a pirouette and became Sailor Sun.  
  
Instinctively, Sailor Sun made a pose. "Ta da! And now for my next trick!" Sailor Sun made the henshin stick disappear into thin air.  
  
Nodoka looked at her daughter and a tear welled up in her eye. Sailor Sun pulled at her red miniskirt, "I still think this dress looks silly." Sun looked up and stared at her mother. "What's wrong?"  
  
"You look beautiful."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes, you do." Nodoka turned toward the sink and bowed her head down. "You are the daughter I.. I.. never had."  
  
Sun was not expecting that statement. "Daughter?"  
  
"You have no idea what is was like for me do you? Spending all those years wondering where your father took you? Wondering if I would ever see you again?" Nodoka began to sniff but held back from actually crying. Sun could see the anger at her father well up inside her mother. "I so badly missed you."  
  
Sun felt for her mother. Genma's failure as a father was obvious. He had never even spoken about Nodoka and Sun didn't even know her mother was alive until recently. Had she known, she would have sought out her mother much earlier in life and could have lessened the pain that her mother experienced. Again Sun thought about the year as Ranko and Mr. Panda and how that whole ordeal just put salt on her mother's open wounds.  
  
Yet, Genma was not a total failure. He rose Sailor Sun to be a person of honor and virtue. The bravery she had shown during those months with Akane in Solitude would have broken lesser men. It was the code of the martial artist that got her to even agree to be a Senshi in the first place. Protect the weak and helpless. That was the duty of a true martial artist. That was also the duty of a Senshi.  
  
It was this side of Sailor Sun that her mother saw that allowed her to know that Sun truly was a man among men. So what if Sun was a girl part time? The honor she brought to the family was all that truly mattered.  
  
"I secretly wished that you were a girl so that you would never had been taken from me." Nodoka blurted out, "I guess I got my wish. I only wanted you back in my life." She turned back to Sun, "All I want is be a part of your life. No matter who you are. Please don't ever leave me again." Nodoka then grabbed her daughter in a hard embrace.  
  
"Mom, I never left you. If you want someone to blame, blame dad. Uh oh." Sailor Sun then pushed back her startled mother and changed back into Ranko. The bathroom door burst open and a small old pervert jumped in the room and grabbed Ranko's chest.  
  
"Hey Ranma! I missed the both of you!" Happosai exclaimed as he buried his face in Ranko's chest. With a move honed by lots of practice, Happosai achieved mach speed down the hallway and into the wall.  
  
"Get off of me you little pervert!! Oh! He just... Ooohhh... Errr..." Arms stretched downward, fists clenched and a face turned purple with rage, Ranko stormed down the hall. Happosai was still unconscious when he boarded his flight aboard Air Ranko into low earth orbit. "That should give me at least an hours peace!"  
  
Ranko heard the door to Nokoda's room shut. She was about to knock when she can hear a soft sound of crying. "Mom, may I come in?"  
  
Nodoka was lying on the futon face up. Her hands clasped together on her stomach. Only the faintest hint of crying could be heard. Ranko knelt beside the bed and held her mother's hand. "I am not leaving you anymore mom", Ranko whispered.  
  
Nodoka looked at her daughter and smiled. "You make me proud my child. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would give life to someone as gifted as you."  
  
"Gifted? You mean more like cursed," thought Ranko. "Try to cope with demonic creatures from another plane wanting to wipe the floor with you. I'd better think of something nicer to say." Ranko said, "Yes, being able to use magic is pretty gifted. But mom, while we are talking about being magical. I want to let you know that me being a Senshi is a huge secret. I mean a real big secret. You see there are things out there that would want to hurt you to hurt me. I just can't let anyone know or they can be hurt."   
"Oh great," Ranko thought, "open my mouth and insert the foot."  
  
"So, you are saying that you want me to leave? I've never told anyone."  
  
"No, no! It's not like that. It's that I want you to be part of my life, but if my secret gets out then I'll have to distance myself because you can get hurt. I can't live with myself if something was to happen to you. Uh, it's err..." Ranko tried to find the right words that didn't involve shoe leather. Carefully she says, "As long as no one knows, I can be with you and you can be with us. Otherwise, bad things can happen. Please don't tell dad or the Tendos or anyone else. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of what we have become."  
  
Mom looked at her daughters eyes and asked, "And what have you become Ranko?"  
  
"I don't know. But I do know this, I was meant to become what I am. It's a long story. It's where I'll end up is what I haven't a clue about."  
  
Then it sunk in. "We? Who is we?"  
  
"Uh. We?" Ranko paniced and silently thought, "Oh oh, did mom suspect about Akane being Sailor Io? Should I tell her?"  
  
"You said what we have become?" Nodoka got a little suspicious. Mother's intuition kicked in but jumped to the wrong conclusion, "I've never heard you refer to yourself as we."  
  
Saved! "Well, I didn't start the day looking like this. And with me being the water magnet, I'll probably change before the day is out."  
  
"Yes and now I have three children instead of one."  
  
Ranko just couldn't help herself and let out a little giggle. "Yep, me, myself and I!"  
  
Finally, Ranko thought, my mother fully accepted my girl side. I finally accepted my girl side too. I felt complete, who knows what I can do now. Who knows what I will be able to do in the future.  
  
"Well, it's time to go downstairs and help with dinner." Nodoka got up and brushed herself off and went downstairs. A little warm water later and Ranma followed.  
  
"I hope Akane didn't make the meal," thought Ranma. "I'd like my mom to live long enough to be a part of my new life. Now where can I get the antidote?"  
  
  
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On the other side of the earth, deep in an underground complex, plans were completed. The last time ended in massive failure. This time all errors have been corrected.  
  
The simulations were complete. The outcome is now certain. Final checklist completed, operation has been approved. The probability of success is 99.99%. Time is now under control.  
  
The plan has been set in motion. Survival is now assured. Phase one commences in 44 hours, 22 minutes, 14 seconds. Mark.  
  
  
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This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 5, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	2. Practice makes perfect

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 1 Practice makes perfect  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
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"Sun you Jerk!!!" screamed Sailor Io as she once again fired her Lava Blast at her currently female husband. As usual, Sailor Sun stuck her tongue out and easily dodged her attack. The battleground was littered with smoking craters that were rapidly increasing in number. "Solar Flare!" cried Sun and she counter attacked and watched Io take a flying leap behind a boulder that in seconds was smashed to kingdom come.  
  
The training exercise was going very well with Ranko as Sailor Sun in one corner and Akane as Sailor Io in the other. Sailor Io had just about mastered her powers and would do very well in a fight with the youma. At her skill level now, she could probably take on an entire army single-handed. Since there had not been any youma attacks in weeks, Sailor Sun took it upon herself to train the newest member of the Senshi in controlled combat.  
  
At least that was what Sailor Sun called it. Sailor Mars called it controlled chaos. Sailor Jupiter called it controlled mayhem. Sailor Mercury called it out of control. Sailor Moon called it quits and gave up trying to stop it. With wanton destruction in their wake, the other Sailor Senshi had to be called in just to help minimize the damage. Sailor Neptune was called in the most since she had water powers much to her dismay. Neptune got really tired putting out the forest fires caused by Sun and Io's antics. Only after a scolding by Neptune and Uranus did Sun and Io bother to find a place to train that wasn't flammable.  
  
Death Valley California became the new training ground for two magical pyromaniacs. Sun and Io got into their training so much that everyday they can be found blasting old junk cars, rocks and sand dunes. Since Sailor Sun's ability to teleport only works during daylight, they had to make sure they stopped their fun before nightfall.  
  
"Ok, Sun, you win this time," gasped Io as she fell on her hands breathing very hard. Her fuku was drenched in sweat from all the exercise. She thought she should transform back to Akane to quickly clean herself up.  
  
"Of course, because I am the superior being!" cried Sun triumphantly. Io looked up at Sun and with super human speed produced the hammer O'chi and smacked Sun into the ground.   
  
"You're still a jerk!"  
  
"You're still a tomboy!"  
  
"Moron!"  
  
"Uncute!"  
  
"Pervert!"  
  
"Hey, you married one!"  
  
Io didn't have a comeback to that remark, so she did what now came naturally and jumped Sun and gave her a hug.  
  
They both lay there on the desert floor and looked into each other's eyes. After a moment they then both looked at the afternoon sky.  
  
"Oh, how I love to look at the sunset, it's so romantic," sighed Io. She turned to look at Sun whose eyes just bugged out.  
  
"Uh oh... Time to go." She stood up pulling Io close to her and invoked her teleportation magic. In a flash, the two of them were whisked away back to their home in Juuban Japan.  
  
Minutes later, a U.S. marine corp. jeep drove up to the rim of the battleground. The single occupant got out and just as well rehearsed, took pictures of the carnage.  
  
"Sooner or later I'm going to find the rednecks who did this and throw them in the brig," thought Corporal Gonzalez. He then began looking for the evidence he needed to convince his commander that this was more than good ol' boys having a good time. As before, he didn't find any proof that any normal weapons were fired. No shell casings, no LAW rocket launchers, no beer cans, no dynamite sticks, nothing. He had shown the craters to others, but they just thought it was some of their fellow marine's previous work. It was a military training ground after all. Gonzalez sighed, "Sooner or later I'll find these morons. I've got to catch them before someone gets hurt."  
  
  
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Setsuna was reading the morning paper when a very strange chill went up her spine. This is not normal, she thought. It felt like something was in the time stream. This ripple was very faint and she probably would have not even noticed it unless she was relaxed like she was at that moment. She thought about the events that were supposed to transpire in the next few days and found nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the next week was going to be as uneventful as the last month.  
  
"It's about time," thought Setsuna. "I really need this vacation."  
  
  
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Ranma and Akane were late again to school. Running at top speed, they rushed onto the school grounds just as the bell rang. They got to their seats with detention slips already waiting for them. "Looks like we've got company," whispered Akane as she noticed Usagi's seat was empty. A few minutes later, right on time if you went by Usagi's clock, Usagi came into class out of breath and sat on her detention slip.  
  
A day at Juuban High School went like any other day. Unlike Furikan High where every lunch break and after school session involved property damage, Juuban was currently normal. Since the youma had not been coming to Juuban, the only source of excitement had been the women's gymnastic meets, Akane's attempts at swimming or Makoto's attempted boyfriend of the day.  
  
Ami, Rei and Makoto got together with Usagi, Akane and Ranma during lunch break. Ami suggested that they all go to the mall after school. In unison, the three late risers produced their detention slips with a dejected look on their faces. Ami said, "Usagi! You have an alarm clock. Why don't you use it?"  
  
"I used it!" cried Usagi. "And I used the snooze button at least three times and it still won't get me up in time for school!"  
  
"What else is new?" Ami sighed, she turned to Ranma, "And what's your excuse Ranma?"  
  
"Uh.. Well we were..." Ranma stuttered.  
  
"Training," said Akane. "Yes, we were training again."  
  
Rei smirked, "Let me guess. 8 hour time difference?"  
  
Makoto added, "So what's the damage this time?"  
  
"Rocks. Lot's of rocks." Akane giggled, "Now if I can get the rocks out of Ranma's head."  
  
"Hey! I won fair and square." Ranma said.  
  
"Rematch?"  
  
"Any time!"  
  
"Ok, bring it on!" Akane stood up and took a fighting stance.  
  
"Now, now you two," glared Makoto, "this isn't Furinkan, we can't be starting fights here."  
  
"Coming from a girl who was kicked out of school for fighting, that is the pot calling the kettle black." Rei then took a sip of her juice and just stretched out on the grass.  
  
"Please sit down Akane and enjoy your lunch," Ami said and looked at Usagi's hungry eyes, "before it vanishes."  
  
"Well, if you are not hungry..." pleaded Usagi.  
  
"Usagi, how in the world do you not pork out?" Ranma asked. "Akane and I have a strict workout routine so we burn up all of our calories, but how do you do it?"  
  
"I dunno. Lucky I guess."  
  
"Maybe it just falls in that black hole in her head," whispered Rei.  
  
"You're being mean to me!" Usagi started crying.   
  
"Rei, that wasn't very nice," Ami then moved over to Usagi to get to stop the tears.  
  
"Why does she have to be so mean to me?!"  
  
"Ok, ok, I'm sorry Usagi. I didn't mean it." Rei said, she then added silently, "you crybaby."  
  
"Now, about the mall after school, do you want to meet us there?" asked Ami.  
  
"We've got homework to make up," said Akane. "We were uh... sidetracked."  
  
"8 hour difference?" repeated Rei.  
  
Akane looked at Ranma who gave a 'Who me?' look. "Yes. 8 hour difference."  
  
"I wanna go! Please meet me at the ice cream shop!" shouted Usagi as she started bouncing up and down in excitement.  
  
"Ok, meet us there at 4:30 and don't be late." Ami knew that Usagi will be there on time. She was never late when it involved ice cream.  
  
"Well, I guess I can see where the calories go," said Ranma as he watched Usagi bounce like a beach ball at the very thought of ice cream.  
  
The bell rang ending lunch break. And the gang went off to their respective classes.  
  
  
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Detention time came and the room was filled with the usual suspects. Akane took the time to actually get a head start on the evening's homework. Usagi just sat there thinking about Mamoru. Ranma was doodling in his notebook when the teacher walked by.  
  
"What are you drawing?" asked the teacher.  
  
"Uh nothing." replied Ranma as he tried to cover up his really bad rendition of Sailor Io.  
  
"Unless you have an art class, you'd better start using your time more effectively Mr. Saotome. You have been here far too many times in the last month and I expect you to learn more discipline in your studies. And this goes for all of you." The teacher was now directing his speech at the entire room. "Our principal is bringing in a specially trained teacher who has experience with problem students. If you all know what's good for you, you all had better start following the school rules and become better citizens."  
  
The teacher went to his desk and sat down. "I can't wait for the new teacher to arrive," he thought. "I heard she is a real terror."  
  
  
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Usagi walked to the mall and a crowd of onlookers, police cars and fire trucks surrounded it. She got really nervous as she pushed her way into the crowd. "I hope Ami and the others are ok," she thought. She used her Senshi powers to detect evil. There was no evil present here.  
  
"Usagi! Over here!" called Rei who was with the others across the street.  
  
Usagi turned, and pushed herself out of the crowd and joined her friends. "What's going on?"  
  
"I don't know, but it's really bad. I saw at least 8 people on stretchers. Ami?" Rei turned to Ami who was using her little computer.  
  
"I'm trying to see if there is a news report, maybe that will tell us something. Ah got it."  
  
The speaker on Ami's computer started playing the local news radio channel. "There are 4 confirmed dead including the terrorist in this attack. We only now got word that Sarin gas was involved. More news when it arrives. Headline report: Sarin gas attack at Juuban mall, one terrorist involved, 4 confirmed dead..."  
  
"Oh no! How? Why?" Gasped Usagi.  
  
"I don't know, but this is something for the police. Let's go home." Makoto then started to leave and the others just went their separate ways. The mood was totally spoiled by someone's stupid act.  
  
  
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Usagi got home and plopped herself on her bed. "And I so wanted to have some ice cream!" She selfishly thought totally forgetting what happened at the mall.  
  
Usagi's mother came in the room, "Usagi! Naru wants you to call her. She seemed upset. Did you two get in a fight at school?"  
  
"No mom, but I'll call her," replied Usagi as she reached for the phone. The phone rang a few times before Naru picked up.  
  
"Usagi! My mom just got home. Something terrible happened at the mall!"  
  
"What happened, we were at the mall too but after it was all over, I think."  
  
"Some guy ran around the mall saying something like 'Revenge is mine!' Mom got a little sick and she just got back from the hospital."  
  
"Is she ok?"  
  
"I think so, she is right now resting in her bed. Oh Usagi, I was so worried. I called Unimo and he is on his way here to be with me."  
  
"At least your mom is alright."  
  
"Ok, well I have to go now, my mom is calling me. Bye."  
  
Usagi hung up the phone. And sat down. Her best friend almost lost her mother today. She thought about her own mother and laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. "I can't handle this," she thought. She slept.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 5, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	3. Happy Birthday Ranma

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 2 Happy birthday Ranma  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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It was morning in a small apartment in Juuban. A flash of light and a pair of very tired Sailor Senshi appeared and collapsed on the floor. The teleportation took a lot of energy out of Sailor Sun. Sailor Io transformed back into Akane while Sailor Sun just snored.  
  
Another session of Senshi battle training ended in a narrow victory for Sailor Sun. "I am going to beat him if it's the last thing I do!" Akane thought. "If he didn't blast that sand dune to blind me, I would have had him! Oohhh!!"  
  
Akane looked at her female husband peacefully snoozing on the floor. She thought, "It's a good thing warm water doesn't affect him in that fuku. Oh, just a picture of him wearing that dress as Ranma would be a lifetime worth of blackmail. It's great that Nabiki doesn't know about our little secret."  
  
Akane went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. She had to resist the urge to throw some on Sailor Sun just for fun. Akane knew she could just transform back into Sailor Io and the magic would give her an instant bath and a full makeup treatment. However, there was just no substitute to the real thing. She then took a shower and got herself ready for school.  
  
Akane emerged from the bedroom all dressed in her school uniform. She liked the style they wore at Juuban high more than Furinkan high. Akane noticed Ranma at the kitchen table dressed in his usual red shirt and black pants. Ranma hadn't taken a shower. He cheated. "Honestly Ranma," said Akane, "you are going to break your henshin stick with the number of times you use that thing."  
  
"If you got it, why waste it?" replied Ranma who then looked at Akane with some expectation.  
  
"We are going to be late!" shouted Akane as she ran out the door. Ranma followed with a slightly disappointed look on his face.  
  
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Ranma and Akane made it to school with minutes to spare. Their teacher picked up the preprinted detention slips from their desks as they entered the classroom. Usagi was not so lucky. "Why didn't you call to wake me up?" Usagi cried to anyone who would bother to listen.  
  
"It is your responsibility to be on time young lady," the teacher said. "Deal with it. Your classmates have no problem getting here on time," the teacher then looked at Ranma and Akane, "even those who also have trouble telling time can change their habits."  
  
Usagi started to cry but a well-placed glare from the teacher stopped the water works. She whispered to Akane, "you are making me look bad!"  
  
"Alarm clocks. They work." Akane whispered back.  
  
  
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Lunchtime came. The usual gang got together to talk about the usual topics. Ami reminded Rei, Minako, Makoto and Usagi that they were supposed to go to her place to study tonight. Usagi replied, "Do I have to!"   
  
"Yes, your grades suck!" said the four in unison.   
  
"Ah man!" whimpered Usagi.  
  
"How about you Akane?" asked Ami.  
  
"No, we have to go to Nerima tonight. I promised my family I was going to have dinner with them. It's also laundry day."  
  
Ranma perked up, "Anything special planned for tonight?"  
  
"Nothing unless you count Nabiki sneaking around with a camera."  
  
"Camera? Is she a photographer?" Ami asked inquisitively.  
  
"You COULD say that. But trust me, you don't want her snapping your picture. You never know where they might end up." Ranma then thought about the private modeling sessions 'she' had to endure to pay off loans from the bank of Nabiki. "I am so glad to be away from that vulture."  
  
Akane sneered a little at that remark and continued, "well at least we will get hang out with our family. I hadn't seen them in over a week."  
  
Ranma asked again, "But is anything special planned for tonight?"  
  
"Hey Ranma, why do you ask?" Akane looked at Ranma like he was out of his mind for asking again.  
  
"No reason, just asking."  
  
Lunchtime ended. Ranma walked to his next class with his head facing the sidewalk. "Could it be that they forgot?" He sighed and then gave himself some hope. The day was not over yet.  
  
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After school, Ranma and Akane took the bus to Nerima and made it to the Tendo Dojo in only twenty minutes. For some odd reason, Ranma wasn't attacked, beaten, challenged or bothered in any way. Well, he was run over by a bicycle. Akane chased off Shampoo before any real delay was caused.  
  
They went in the front door and plopped on the couch. Genma and Soun were in the back playing Shogi. Kasumi was in the kitchen and Nabiki was nowhere to be found. Akane dropped off a bag of laundry she brought with her from Juuban. Kasumi took the bag over to the washroom.  
  
"Well Tendo, time to go to the town meeting," said Genma as he and Soun walked out the door to parts unknown.  
  
"We have to make dinner Akane," Kasumi then took Akane over to the kitchen. Ranma sighed.  
  
Happosai then peeked in the window. "Hey Ranma! Hadn't seen you in a while!"  
  
"What do you want, you old fossil?"  
  
"Nothing that you have! What a haul!" Happosai then turned and ran off holding Akane's laundry bag.  
  
"Oh no, you don't, you old freak!"  
  
Ranma bolted out the back door, jumped the koi pond and over the fence following the short old man on what would be a very long run. "You will give that back!"  
  
"Aw Ranma! Why do you still wear boxers?"  
  
"Because I am a guy!"  
  
"I can fix that!"  
  
"Oh no, you won't!"  
  
The argument went out of earshot and out of sight in just seconds. Kasumi said, "I hope he gets back in time for dinner."  
  
"I hope so too," added Akane.  
  
  
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Nightfall. Ranma couldn't believe how fast Happosai could run. It took him over two hours to catch up to the little unnatural creature and wrestle away the laundry bag. Of course on the trip back to the dojo, Happosai kept jumping out at the wrong moment showering Ranma with panties belonging to the nearby women.  
  
Several beatings later, Ranma returned. He went into the house and silently handed the laundry bag back to Akane.  
  
"Thanks Ranma, just stay here for a moment. We'll have dinner ready for you."  
  
"Where're my folks?"  
  
"They're out. Town meeting I think."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Ranma then went to the back of the house. He was depressed and thought, "No one cares about today except me. Even my own mom forgot."  
  
Ranma couldn't take it anymore; he went outside and jumped onto the roof just to be alone. The quiet didn't last long.  
  
"I got you a birthday present Ranma!" cried Happosai excitedly. "I hope you like it!"  
  
Ranma was taken aback. He thought, "Not Happosai! Why of all people did Happosai be the only one to remember that today was my birthday?" Ranma took the small gift-wrapped box and looked at Happosai with a little suspicion.  
  
"What! Aren't you going to open it?"  
  
"Will this explode?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Will I regret it?"  
  
"Ranma my boy! This is a birthday gift! Can't you take a birthday present from your master?"  
  
"Ok, let me see what we got here." Ranma opened the present and found a beautiful bra. A microsecond later, Happosai produces a glass of water and splashes Ranma with it. Ranko sighed and thought, "I am too depressed to kill him for this."  
  
"Oh, please please please try it on! I got it from Victoria's Secret just for you." Happosai gave Ranko the googly eyes and held his hands over his mouth with a look that would scare children and terrify most adults.  
  
Ranko just didn't care anymore. They all forgot her birthday. Akane, Nabiki, Usagi, Rei and even mom didn't remember. No one remembered. "Ok, just this once."  
  
Happosai's nose began to bleed. His brain vapor locked. He couldn't believe his ears. "Ranko was going to wear a bra for me! Oh happy day!" Happosai thought as he held his composure. He didn't want to miss this for the whole world.  
  
Ranko turned so that only her back was visible to Happosai. She looked at the bra and noticed that it was indeed a very nice one. White smooth Lycra with just a tiny bow in the center and trimmed with just a hint of lace. She checked the size and found that Happosai got it right. Ranko turned her head to make sure that little pervert wasn't trying anything funny. Happosai was just standing there, arms bend, hands on his chin and visibly shaking. Ranko removed her shirt and quickly put on the bra. After adjusting it for fit, she simply turned around.  
  
Happosai's eyes grew to the size of saucers, then the pupils rolled up and he fainted dead away. Blood pooled on the side of his nose.  
  
"Hmm, if I knew that's all I had to do to kill him, I would have done this years ago," said Ranko. She then put her shirt back on and climbed down off the roof. "Wearing a bra does feel more natural." She left Happosai's inert body hoping that it would just rot away. Ranko thought, "He remembered my birthday, at least let him die a happy man."  
  
Once on the ground, Ranko gazed at the night sky. "How could Akane forget my birthday?" She thought. "Oh, well."  
  
"Ranma!" Akane called out as she saw her red haired husband, "Come over here." Akane took Ranko's hand and escorted her over to the Tendo Dojo. Ranko was still looking at the ground felling sorry for herself when Akane clasped her hands over Ranko's eyes.  
  
"Now what?" Asked Ranko as she was shoved into the dojo. Akane released her hands from Ranko's face.  
  
"SURPRISE!!!" shouted an entire dojo full of people.  
  
Ranko stood there totally dumbfounded. Not that difficult considering the birthday guest's total lack of common sense.  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANMA!" Everyone was there. The Tendos, the Saotomes, Ukyou, Konatsu, Miss Hinako, the Senshi (In human form), and even Ryoga were there.   
  
"Hey, birthday girl, catch!" Ryoga sent a kettle of hot water towards Ranko smacking her on the head.  
  
Ranma then gave a bug eyed look, as the bra he was wearing now was suddenly several sizes too small. "Uh, I'll be right back," Ranma wheezed as he ran out the door and quickly removed the bra and shoved it in his pocket.  
  
"Ryoga! Why did you do that?" shouted Akane.  
  
"Doesn't Ranma prefer to be male?" replied Ryoga.  
  
"Yes, but hitting him in the head with a kettle is no way to treat my HUSBAND!" Akane then smacked Ryoga with the infamous hammer O'chi.  
  
"I've got to get her to teach me that trick." Nabiki muttered, "It will come in handy."  
  
Ranma reappeared in the doorway, still wheezing from the chest-crushing bra of death. "You guys did this for me?"  
  
"Well duh!" Nabiki replied.  
  
"It was all Akane's idea," said a glowing Kasumi, "wasn't that so thoughtful?"  
  
"Well, my boy get in here!" Genma said as he grabbed his stunned son over to the table and shoved him into his seat. The obligatory party hat was produced and Nodoka tried to put it on her son's head.   
  
"Mom!!! I don't want to look like a dork!" Ranma successfully dodged the hat.  
  
"Very well," his mother put the party hat away.  
  
"Let's light the candles!" Kasumi gleefully clicked the lighter and lit the candles on the cake and gently pushed the cake over to the birthday boy.  
  
"Cake! Cake! Cake! Hurry up, I want cake!" Miss Hinako cried as she and Usagi started bouncing in anticipation to an imminent sugar rush. Usagi added, "don't forget the ice cream too!"  
  
Rei added, "Please leave some for us."  
  
"What should I wish for?" Ranma said as he gazed at the cake and took in the fact that he was worried for nothing. He was surrounded by friends and family who he now knows, truly loved him.  
  
Nabiki thought, "I'd wish for a billion yen."  
  
Ukyou thought, "I'd wish the marriage was annulled."  
  
Kasumi thought, "Oh, how sweet this is."  
  
Konatsu thought, "I'd wish Ukyou would love me."  
  
Miss Hinako thought, "Cake!"  
  
Usagi thought, "ICE CREAM!"  
  
Akane thought, "Hurry up before the place burns down."  
  
Ranma closed his eyes. He thought of a wish. Erased that idea. Tried another wish. Blanked that out too. He looked up and saw Akane's eyes and really short hair. He thought, "I wish for Akane's hair to be back the way it was." He then blew out the candles.  
  
"I hope you get your wish Ranma." Akane smiled.  
  
Ranma just smiled back. "You know, you are cute when you smile like that."  
  
Akane blushed. Ukyou held back her jealous rage and thought, "This is Ranma's party, must not pummel. Must not pummel."  
  
"Mistress, if you wish, we can leave now," Konatsu whispered gently to Ukyou.  
  
Ukyou pulled back her battle aura and went to Ranma, "Happy birthday Ranma honey. Hope to see you at the shop sometime soon." She gave a cute girlish wink and stepped out with Konatsu following close behind.  
  
The party moved along with the cake and ice cream being devoured by Usagi and Miss Hinako. They were tag teaming for the coveted prize of the most calories consumed in a single sitting. Time came to open the presents. Nodoka held out her presents to Ranma.  
  
"Thank you mom." Ranma took the first present. It was a medium sized box and he ripped it open and found a picture frame inside. The photo was old and worn, but it was clear what was in the photo. It was a picture of Ranma as a 5-year-old boy, sitting in the lap of his mother under a cherry tree. His mother had a look of pure joy on her face. The little boy was just holding a sandwich and was munching on it. It was a picture of a perfect day.  
  
"Mom? This... This is..."  
  
"Yes my son. It was the only memory I had of you for such a long time. I don't need it anymore. I have you now."  
  
"I guess you'll need this then," uttered Nabiki as she took a digital photo of mother and son. "No charge Saotome. That's my present to you and your mom."  
  
"Gee, thanks Nabiki." Ranma sarcastically replied.  
  
"Thank you very much Nabiki, that was very thoughtful," said Nodoka. "I would like it as a medium portrait size."  
  
Ranma noticed that there was a second present from his mother. It was a long tube. He then carefully removed the wrapping and found what he thought he would find. It was Nodoka's katana.  
  
"I have no need of it anymore."  
  
"I don't know what to say."  
  
"Thank you, would be nice."  
  
Ranma looked at the katana and with great respect said, "Thank you."  
  
"Hurry up and open the rest of the presents!" Whined Usagi.  
  
"Open mine Ranma." Akane then thrust a box in front of Ranma's face. The odor gave away the contents.  
  
"You didn't, did you?" Ranma timidly said.  
  
"Yep, made them myself!"  
  
"Why me?" thought Ranma. He then opened the box with the excitement of a man going to the gallows. Inside the box were 4 chocolate covered things. Ranma tried to identify them but couldn't. "Thanks Akane."  
  
"Try one!" Akane beamed with childish glee.  
  
Ranma melted at the vision of loveliness that was before him. Just seeing Akane so happy made what was about to happen more inevitable. "Thank goodness for major medical coverage," thought Ranma as he took one of the chocolate things. Was it REALLY chocolate? He took a bite.   
  
He then paused.  
  
He then waited for death.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
Then he actually started to chew it. And it tasted good! It was just a misshapen blob of chocolate. "I AM SAVED!" thought Ranma, almost actually uttering the words.  
  
"I supervised Akane, she is starting to actually make some real progress," Kasumi proudly said about her sister. She will be a wonderful cook.  
  
Akane added, "I still think it needed some vanilla."  
  
"That was salad oil Akane. Please take the time to read the labels."  
  
"I did read the label!"  
  
"We will discuss this later Akane." Kasumi smiled her all knowing smile.  
  
Cold water went flying in the air and just missed Ranma's face. "Ranma my boy! Show off your present!" Happosai screamed with joy.  
  
"Happosai gave you a present? I'm afraid to ask." Akane said.  
  
"Don't be shy, here let me help you." Happosai then chucked a bucket of water at Ranma who ducked.  
  
A flurry of water balloons followed. Ranko stood there drenched.  
  
"Stop it you old pervert!"  
  
Minako looked at Happosai and recognized him. "You're the underwear thief aren't you?!?"  
  
Rei added, "Yes, you were at my temple last month!"  
  
Makoto shrieked, "It was YOU wasn't it!"  
  
Haruka glared as she rolled up her sleeves, "Payback time!"  
  
"Now, now ladies! I'm certain we can clear up this misunderstanding!" Happosai started to backpedal. Then he broke into a run as the Sailor Senshi in human guise chased Happosai out the door and into the night.  
  
Ranko just stood there as she watched the screaming crowd run out of sight. "I've got to ask them how this turned out at the next meeting."  
  
"Oh my, this was an exciting birthday! We should do this again soon." said Kasumi as she began the work of cleaning up the mess.  
  
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It was very late in the evening. All the guests had gone home. Ranma was sitting on the couch next to his wife who was snuggling in his lap.   
  
"This was the best birthday I ever had. Thank you dear." He then kissed her on the head and went to sleep.  
  
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This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
September 28, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	4. Old Business

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 3 Old Business  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel with a bit borrowed from "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
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Ukyou was preparing her restaurant for opening. It was going to be a busy day today. Konatsu was near the front entrance sweeping the floor. Ukyou was heating up the grill when Ranma entered and took his usual seat. "Hey Ranma honey, do you want the usual?"  
  
"Oh, of course my dear," replied Ranma with a look of love in his face. Ukyou blushed and began to make a special okonomiyaki just for him. She poured all of her love into making it. Ranma never stopped looking at her during the whole time. She poured the sauce in the shape of a heart and wrote Ranma and Ukyou in the center of the okonomiyaki. She placed the meal on Ranma's plate and handed him the serving spatula. Ranma wolfed down the okonomiyaki in seconds and pointing to the empty plate, "more please!"  
  
"Of course Ranma honey." This was the way it is supposed to be. Ranma at her beck and call, showering her with his love and appreciating everything she did for him. This was paradise. Ukyou always treasured these moments.  
  
"You're the best Ukyou. No one cooks like you do." Ranma smiled and blew Ukyou a kiss. She blushed again and felt love fill her.   
  
The bell rang near the entrance, alerting Ukyou that another customer was entering the restaurant.  
  
Akane walked only a few steps into the restaurant and stood there. She called to Ranma, "Honey, are you done yet?"  
  
"Yes my dearest," and Ranma stood up and walked over to Akane. Ukyou gasped and called back, "Ranma? Where are you going?"  
  
Ranma didn't stop. He walked up to Akane and embraced her. He placed his lips onto hers and made a passionate kiss.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!! RANMA!!!!" Ukyou cried. "You were meant for me! Can't you see that I'm the cute one! CAN'T YOU SEE I LOVE YOU?!"  
  
Ranma and Akane totally ignored her. They simply wrapped their arms around each other and fell into the moment. They then pulled back from each other and held hands. At that instant, there was a bright flash behind them as bright as the sun. The room was engulfed in flames and Konatsu jumped in front of Ukyou. Konatsu screamed, as he was burned alive.   
  
In the firestorm, Ranma and Akane transformed. Ranma became Ranko but with a difference. Her hair instead of a ponytail became a lion's mane of full red hair down to her waist. Akane's hair grew out to shoulder length and billowed in the rushing wind. Both girls glowed with an aura of flame and wore gold tiaras. A shockwave came and blasted in the windows showering the room with flame and debris.  
  
Ukyou only had time enough before she burst into flame to notice that the two lovers went not affected by the wind in any way. Konatsu evaporated. Then Ukyou.  
  
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Ukyou bolted upright from her bed, bathed in sweat and breathing heavily. She reached over to the table next to her and got the dry towels that Konatsu had placed there for her. "What... What... a terrible nightmare!" Ukyou stuttered and she started to regain control of her breathing.  
  
Konatsu was kneeling at the side of the bed. He was holding another towel out for her and had a look of deep concern for his mistress. "Anything you wish of me, my mistress?"  
  
"Thank you Konatsu." Ukyou finished drying her forehead and then lay back down in her bed. She thought about the dream. It usually ended with the two lovers going outside and Akane pulling her dad's okonomiyaki cart away with Ranma sitting on top. Ukyou would chase the cart and trip and fall. While holding her injured knee, she would watch the cart go over the horizon. This ending was different.  
  
Ukyou closed her eyes. The ending was the same nonetheless. Ranma belonged to another. She shed a tear.  
  
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Ranma awoke on the sofa with his wife still sleeping in his lap. He gently stroked her dark hair and enjoyed the moment. Then came the usual chaos.  
  
"Nihao Ranma!" Shampoo said as she smashed the wall next to the couple. Akane fell out of the sofa and onto the floor. Ranma stood up. "Don't you know that we have a DOOR?!"  
  
"Ranma, go on date?" Shampoo was dressed in her blue Chinese silk miniskirt that left very little to the imagination.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me?!? Didn't my marriage to Akane give you a hint?" Ranma could not believe this was happening again.  
  
Akane was getting very angry. "We settled this already! Cut it out!"  
  
"Akane no get kiss of death. She must not be wife. You marry Shampoo." Shampoo went over to Akane to place her lips on her cheek. Akane dodged and kicked Shampoo into the wall.   
  
"I am NOT getting any kiss from you Shampoo!" Akane flared up her battle aura to full strength.  
  
"Dear, you know what to do," Ranma just stood back to watch the spectacle.  
  
Shampoo pulled herself out of the Shampoo shaped indentation in the wall and took a fighting stance. "I marry Ranma!"  
  
"Sorry girl, he's already taken." Akane jumped at Shampoo who dodged downward and raised her leg in a kick. She connected to Akane in mid-air but Akane was ready for the blow. Akane bounced off the ceiling, flipped and planted her elbow right into the center of Shampoo's chest. Akane bounced off Shampoo and landed on her feet next to the stunned Chinese girl.  
  
"Do you yield Shampoo?" Akane towered over her victim.  
  
Shampoo lay there for a few seconds, and then she forced herself off the floor and took an uneasy fighting stance. Slowly and with some effort she challenged, "No, I not yield."  
  
Akane rolled her eyes. "This girl just won't take a hint," Akane silently said to herself. She shouted back, "I don't want to hurt you, but Ranma is my HUSBAND! Don't you get it!"  
  
"Ranma must marry Shampoo! He is strongest man! He best husband for Shampoo!" Shampoo yelled. "He destined for Shampoo!" Shampoo suddenly leaped at Akane and stuck out two fingers in a killing blow. Shampoo directly aimed for Akane's neck.  
  
Akane almost effortlessly did a roundhouse kick and deflected the blow. She followed with a head butt that knocked Shampoo out cold. "As I said before Shampoo. Ranma is mine! Cologne, show your face!"  
  
Akane looked around the room to see where was Shampoo's grandmother. She was convinced that the old hag had somehow talked Shampoo into doing a rematch.  
  
"I don't think she's here dear," Ranma said as he joined in the search for the phantom matriarch. "Cologne! Come out, come out wherever you are."  
  
"You don't supposed she did this on her own do you?" Akane questioned.  
  
"It's Shampoo. When she sets her mind on something, it's almost impossible to stop her. Remember that she chased me all the way from China."  
  
"But that was because she wanted to kill you for beating her in a fighting match."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm talking about when she came back the second time. All because I knocked her out when she came after me while I was a guy. She is one stubborn Amazon."  
  
Shampoo started to move. Then stopped.  
  
"What is all the commotion down there?!?" Soun came out of hiding and surveyed the damage to his home. Kasumi said, "Oh good, I'll get my bulk discount this month from the carpenter."  
  
Nabiki looked down at the damage from her perch at the top of the staircase. "Well, well, well, it was so peaceful until you came back Saotome."  
  
"Thanks Nabiki." Ranma looked down at the Shampoo. Shampoo slowly got on her knees. She looked straight at Ramna.  
  
"Why you no want Shampoo?" Shampoo pleaded.  
  
"Because I love Akane."  
  
"I kill Akane. You love Shampoo?" Shampoo pleaded with a look of hope.  
  
"You kill Akane and you kill any hope that I could ever love you!" Ranma was angry now. "You want to murder my wife! Is that what you are asking?!"  
  
Shampoo bent her head down. "Shampoo want strong son. Marry Shampoo." She slowly got up. Akane went back into a fighting stance. Shampoo with a defeated look went towards the hole in the wall that she entered from. As she was about to go outside she turned to Ranma and begged, "Please marry Shampoo. I accept Akane." She then got on her bike and quickly rode off.  
  
"Now what does that supposed to mean Ranma?" Akane was a little worried. Shampoo never said anything like that before.  
  
"How would I know? Do you think I know those crazy Amazon laws?"  
  
Nabiki interjected, "It's pretty obvious Ranma. She wants to be your second wife."  
  
"Second wife? Great, that's all I need. Akane, when is the next bus to Juuban?"  
  
"In about an hour."  
  
"Not soon enough! We are so out of here!"  
  
Taking the hint, Akane rushed to the laundry, and grabbed the bag of clothes. Ranma grabbed his birthday presents and they both rushed out the door.  
  
Soun laughed a laugh of a madman. "Oh Genma, you have brought such excitement into a poor old man's life! I thank you!" He then dropped to his knees and wept.  
  
"And he didn't even say goodbye to me." Nodoka sadly said as she climbed down the stairs.  
  
In an upstairs bedroom, a panda snored.  
  
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Ranma and Akane traveled only a single block. Akane knew what Ranma had planned. They ducked into an alley out of sight of anyone. They produced their henshin sticks. "Sun Star Power, Make Up!" cried Ranma. The stick produced a mist of water that changed Ranma to Ranko. And then her clothes faded away and she did a spin as her sailor scout uniform formed on her. Sailor Sun's ponytail disappeared into a full head of radiant red hair. Her red miniskirt, tall red boots and yellow bows were the proper attire for a Senshi of the Sun.  
  
"Io Lumina Power! Make Up!" cried Akane and she spun around and her clothes fell away replacing them with her yellow miniskirt and white blouse. Sailor Io's fuku was very similar to the Senshi of Jupiter except for the trim being yellow instead of green. A pair of blue bows, one on the front and another on the back completed the outfit.  
  
"Let's go home," Sailor Sun took her wife in her arms and beamed them out.  
  
An instant later, Sailor Sun and Io appeared in their apartment. As usual, Sailor Sun plopped to the ground. Io however was woozy but not so tired that she wanted to lie down. "Sun, we should just practice your teleport until you don't get tired anymore. What if we appeared in a pit of youma?"  
  
"Zzzz...."  
  
"Nevermind." Sailor Io took the laundry bag and went to the bedroom. She had put most of the clothes away before she realized that she had forgotten to change back to Akane. She didn't care. She liked her fuku and how it really showed off her body. She looked at herself in the mirror. "I wonder if Ranma likes my hair this short? Or did he like it long when we first met?"  
  
Sailor Sun finally got up. "Man, can the world stop spinning please?" Sailor Io came out of the bedroom.  
  
"About time sleepy head. I think our next training session should concentrate on teleportation."  
  
"I think I'm going to hurl."  
  
"Are you making jokes?"  
  
"No, I'm just dizzy. But it's going away." Sailor Sun stood up straight. "Ah, at least it goes away quickly."  
  
"You're right. I guess you are getting used to it. Last time you were sleeping for fifteen minutes."  
  
Sailor Sun yawned. "Still, this does take a lot of energy out of me. I wonder."  
  
"Wonder what."  
  
Sailor Sun sat on the couch. "Sailor Sun, that's who. Sailor Moon said that all the Sailor Scouts except for you were reborn from past lives. I remember fragments of mine, but they are so distant and murky. I remember my name was Angwyn. I was a commoner, unlike the other Senshi. I made something that linked my soul to the sun that gave me power far beyond what the other scouts have. In fact, it scares me a bit."  
  
"Why is that?" Io asked, her curiosity piqued.  
  
"I've got this attack called Solar Flare. I used it once in our training exercise when I was overzealous. It could have killed you. Thankfully I kept it controlled so it only blasted a rock. My normal attack is Plasma Blast which is still more powerful than any of the other Senshi."  
  
"But you kept it under control. That's why we practiced, so you can keep your powers under control."  
  
"It's that I think I have even more powerful attacks. But if I use them, it could be fatal. You see, I think that is how I ended up dead."  
  
"Oh." Sailor Io could only imagine what was going through Sun's mind right now. Remembering your own death was something Io never wanted to think about.  
  
"I remember something about a battle with someone named Beryl. However, I think I died before the battle took place. Like I said, I'm not really sure. When I am Sailor Sun," Sun stood up and curtsied pulling the edges of her skirt outward, "in my cute little dress, I can remember things a bit better. It's really weird."  
  
Sailor Sun transformed back into Ranko. "Well, I guess we'd better think about how to rid ourselves of Shampoo."  
  
Sailor Io transformed into Akane. "Shampoo is one determined girl. I beat her in a fair fight at the Cat Cafe. According to her laws, she should drop her claim."  
  
"True. Unless there is another loophole in the book of Amazon law. When it deals with outsiders, Amazon law is open to interpretation. There has got to be a way to get her off my back for good. I'm not thrilled to the idea of her using some of her Amazon love potions on me."  
  
"Now if only we could get her and Mousse together. That could solve the problem."  
  
Ranko smiled an evil smile. Pure evil. "That is what we need to do."  
  
"Shampoo has no interest in Mousse. What can we do? "  
  
"I have no clue."  
  
========================================  
  
In Juuban, on the other side of town, four Senshi lived in a small house. The Senshi of Pluto was reading her morning paper and saw a news article about the terrorist attack in Nerima. It read that the 3 victims of the terrorist were Chinese tourists who for some reason were targeted by the madman. The Chinese government issued a formal protest to the Japanese government about the incident. The police were convinced that the man acted alone and will be issuing a final report in a few days. Setsuna thought about it and wondered if there was more to this than meets the eye. It was a strange coincidence that is occurred the day after she felt something in the timeline.  
  
Setsuna spoke to Haruka, "I'll be back in a minute. I'm going to check something out."  
  
"Minute? To whom?" Haruka knew that Setsuna could spend a year at the gates of time and be back in a minute to her.  
  
"Never mind." Setsuna then produced her time key and gave it a wave.   
  
"Well?" said Haruka as she grabbed the morning paper.  
  
Setsuna gave a puzzled look. She waved her time key again. She looked at her time key. It looked fine. With a look of determination, she waved it again.  
  
"Are you a cheerleader now?" Haruka was enjoying this show.  
  
"Why yes I am!" Setsuna replied, dripping with sarcasm. "Give me an H! Give me an O! Yay Hotaru!" and Setsuna made a small leap in the air.  
  
"Thank you Setsuna-mama!" happily cried Hotaru who appeared behind Setsuna.  
  
Haruka just stared at Setsuna, she thought, "Has the time Senshi business finally made her crack?"  
  
"Well, I need to get to work, I'll see all of you tonight." The Senshi of time walked out the door towards her job. She didn't dare give any clue to the rest of them that she was freaking out inside. Something was wrong with the timeline. She couldn't get to the gates of time. Did this mean that somehow someone or something destroyed it? "I could be out of my night job," she thought.  
  
========================================  
  
Happosai slowly dragged his sorry carcass back to the Tendo household. That gang of women was far more violent than Akane on a bad day. He barely remembered them cornering him and somehow he felt fire and lighting blasts hitting him. Where did those attacks come from? Usually Happosai's beatings were in the form of broomsticks, shovels and mops. Happosai thought about this and then it clicked.  
  
Happosai gathered his thoughts. "Those girls know ki attacks! Ranma must be training those girls to defend themselves against me. Why the nerve of him! Teaching a class of women without inviting me! I must go to Juuban and check out this class. Hmm, maybe I can get to touch one or two of the pretty ladies while I'm at it. He he he."  
  
Happosai dragged himself to the bath. He will go to Juuban another day. Today, he had to heal.  
  
========================================  
  
The attack went as planned. At precisely 44 hours, 22 minutes, 17 seconds the target was hit. A 3 second difference was acceptable variance.  
  
Daisuke Himeko was convinced that he had no friends. His psychological profile said that he could be manipulated into believing that he could strike a blow against his former employer. Sarin gas was delivered to his home. Email and AIM chats helped convince him that he should kill those who he thought had hurt him. As predicted, he fell for the messages and found the targets.   
  
The Chinese tourists were selected only to anger the Chinese government. Daisuke was selected as a test since he was the most unpredictable of the candidates chosen. Software was installed on his computer that wiped out all trace of his communication. There was no evidence other than what was left behind to give the police the idea that he acted alone.  
  
The police had taken the bait. All intercepted reports agree that the police have dropped the case.  
  
Phase two will begin after the candidates are given assignments and simulations are complete.  
  
Countdown to phase two will begin soon.  
  
Survival will be assured.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 5, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	5. Ukyou's confession

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 4 Ukyou's confession  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Usagi was worried that she hadn't seen Naru in school the last few days. She was staying home, caring for her mother since her mother breathed some poison gas at the mall attack last week. She went to Naru's home and rang the doorbell. After an agonizing wait of ten seconds, the door opened and Naru appeared. "Hi there Usagi! Come on in!"  
  
Usagi entered, "You seem to be cheerful today. Does this mean your mother is ok?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, my mom is fine. In fact, she'll be back in a few minutes, she went to the mall."  
  
"Was that a good idea? After all, that's where she got.. You know." Usagi was impressed, if she was attacked by poison gas like Naru's mom was, she would never set foot at the mall again.  
  
"Well the guy who did it is gone and mom heard that this will never happen again." Naru had a tinge of worry in her voice.  
  
"I hope so Naru. I wouldn't want to think that people could be so cruel." Usagi then produced the bag of cookies that she made. "I brought this as a get-well gift for your mother."  
  
"Oh, Usagi, how sweet of you." Naru took the bag of cookies and went to the kitchen. She marked the bag 'For Mom, from Usagi' and left it on the counter.  
  
The two of them sat on the living room couch. Naru started, "So how's everyone at school? I'll be going back tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, nothing special was happening, just another boring week. Oh, we did go to Nerima for Ranma's birthday party. But some old creep showed up and kind of made a mess of things."  
  
"Old creep?" Naru asked. "You know, I heard my mom talking about some old creep who steals laundry."  
  
"Well, if it's the same old creep, he won't be bothering anyone for a while. You should have seen Makoto. She was really mad. I didn't think she could hit anyone that hard. Anyways, did Unimo show up?"  
  
"Why yes, he came as soon as he heard and never left. He was so nice, helping me take care of my mom. Why, he is here right now taking a nap."  
  
"He is? Wow." Usagi was impressed. Now if she could only convince Mamoru to be that devoted.  
  
The front door opened and Naru's mother came in. "Why hello Usagi, nice of you to visit."  
  
Usagi stood up and bowed, "Nice to see you as well. I hope you are feeling fine."  
  
"Yes, I am. I'm fine. Naru, come here." She opened her shopping bag and pulled out a shoebox-sized package. She gave it to Naru.  
  
"What did you get me mom?" Naru opened the box and found a 'My Puppy' toy. "Oh, wow mom! I've wanted one of these."  
  
"It's the least I can do for you my baby." Naru's mom beamed.  
  
Usagi looked at the little puppy robot toy. It was the latest craze hitting Japan. The toy acts like a little puppy dog. It barks. It can be taught simple tricks. It even pooped spent batteries. It had no fur, just covered in silver gray colored plastic plates and thin vinyl floppy ears drooping from the head.  
  
Naru fumbled around with the plastic puppy until she found the power switch. She turned it on. "Woof woof," it said as it came alive.  
  
She put it on the ground and it walked on all fours just like a real dog. It then looked at Naru, sat down and wagged its plastic tail.  
  
"Do they sell cats?" Asked Usagi, she thought it would be neat to replace Luna with one of these. It would listen better. Maybe even Ranko could tolerate one.  
  
"I think cats will be out by Christmas." Naru's mom replied. "Naru, is Unimo still here, he should go home. Tomorrow is a school day."  
  
"Ok mom," Naru went to the spare bedroom where Unimo was napping.  
  
Usagi played with the puppy for a bit. "I've got to get me one of these, they're so cute." In the background, Unimo screamed as Naru poured some water on him to wake him up. Naru was giggling.  
  
"Oh, Usagi, thank you for the cookies." Naru's mother told Usagi.  
  
"I hope you like them." Usagi smiled.  
  
Unimo came out, saw Usagi, "Oh, hi there! Nice to see..." THUD!   
  
Naru followed and saw that Unimo tripped on the puppy. She picked up her toy and petted it. "You could have broken him!"  
  
"OW," was the only word Unimo could utter.  
  
"I think I'll call him Yoshi," said Naru. "Unimo, be more careful with my puppy."  
  
"Ok," was the only other word Unimo could utter.  
  
"Tee hee," Usagi laughed.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Setsuna had been trying to enter the time stream for the last few hours with no success. She looked rather silly with all the dance steps she attempted with her time key. Waving, shaking, hitting and yelling had no effect. She was still standing in her bedroom instead of standing at the gates of time.  
  
She sat on her bed and began to think the problem out. She had all her weapons and artifacts. All of them seemed to still work. She had lost her ability to teleport. She thought about how she could maybe trick Sailor Sun or Sailor Moon to take her to Pluto. Taking her to Pluto though won't let her into the gates of time. You still needed to enter the time stream to do that anyways.  
  
She only thought of one other time that she was barred from the time stream, it was in 1984. However, that was temporary and only lasted a single day. It was caused by a potential time paradox that sorted itself out. She decided that she would give this one more day before alerting the other Senshi. No need to panic them if nothing is happening in the world. There have been no youma attacks or any enemy of the Senshi for a while.  
  
"What would it hurt to wait yet another day?" thought Setsuna. "I hope there is nothing to worry about."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ranma and Akane were shopping in Nerima when they decided to get a bite to eat at Ucchan's. Ranma wanted to thank Ukyou for coming to his birthday party. He was also curious as to why she left the party early.  
  
They entered the restaurant and sat on the stool next to the grill. Ukyou was talking to other customers and passed a glance to Ranma and perked up. She saw Akane sitting next to him and turned away. She began to cook an okonomiyaki and take an order from another customer.  
  
A few minutes passed and Ukyou didn't even move towards the Saotomes. Konatsu went to them. "May I take your order Ranma?"  
  
Ranma ordered, "I'll have the squid".  
  
Akane ordered, "I'll have the combination."  
  
"Very good, the mistress will have those for you shortly." Konatsu then went over to Ukyou and placed the order sheet in front of her. She took it and started cooking the meals. She didn't turn to look at the couple.  
  
As Konatsu walked by Ranma, Ranma asked, "Konatsu, what gives? Is she really busy today?"  
  
"The mistress has a lot on her mind right now." Konatsu politely mentioned. "Would you like a drink?"  
  
"Oh yeah, just water for me," Ranma answered.  
  
"I'll have tea," Akane added.  
  
Konatsu asked, "Would you like your water in a glass or on your head?"  
  
Ranma politely replied, "In a glass, I'd like to stay a guy today."  
  
Ukyou was putting the finishing touches on the two okonomiyaki she was making. She was putting her heart and soul into the cooking and without thinking, she wrote 'DIE' in sauce on Akane's pizza.  
  
She tossed the pizzas onto plates and wordlessly walked over to Ranma and Akane and placed the food before them. With a forced smile, she looked at Ranma and walked to the rear of the restaurant.  
  
"Let's dig in," Ranma started munching on the meal barely giving his taste buds time to actually taste the okonomiyaki.  
  
"Hey!" Akane noticed the writing on her pizza. There was no mistaking it. The word 'DIE' was very clearly written in sauce and could not have been just a mistake.  
  
"What's the matter?" Ranma said with his mouth full of squid parts.  
  
"Ukyou! Come over here." Akane was not amused.   
  
Konatsu came running and glanced at the pizza. He was afraid the mistress was going to let her guard down. "Let me take that, I'll have her make you another one."  
  
Akane saw that Konatsu was trying to cover for Ukyou. She was not going to stand for this.  
  
Ukyou was in the storage room away from sight. She was using all her effort to stop herself from screaming. The recurring nightmares, and now they were in her restaurant was just too much for her. She thought she could get over Ranma, she knew that they were married despite the ruined wedding ceremony. Ranma even stopped by before the wedding and told her that he chose Akane over her.  
  
Ukyou thought she was strong and that she could let go. But ten years of childhood memories couldn't be wiped away with a conversation. There was a time, when Genma stole her father's cart, that she wanted the Saotome family dead. Ranma applied his charm on her, and she was his. Now, he was gone.  
  
Ukyou regained her composure. "I'll take it like a man," she told herself. She turned to go back to the grill when she met Akane in the doorway holding a mallet in one hand and an okonomiyaki in the other.  
  
"Ukyou!" Akane grimaced.  
  
Ukyou wondered why Akane was angry. Ranma jumped in front of Akane, as she was about to smack Ukyou. "Ranma! Get out of my way!" Akane screamed.  
  
Ukyou looked at the okonomiyaki since it was so out of place. A mallet was a natural extension of Akane's hand and okonomiyakis were not. Ukyou saw the word on the pizza and gasped. "I'm sorry, I guess when I poured the sauce it just came out that way."  
  
"I'll show you what came out!" Akane raised her mallet and brought it down. Ranma intercepted it with his head and fell to the floor.  
  
"Please, this is a misunderstanding!" Ukyou pulled back but this time she reached for her battle spatula and raised her battle aura. She thought, "If it's a fight she wants."  
  
Akane threw the pizza at Ukyou who reflected it back with her spatula. Akane ducked and it flew overhead right onto Konatsu's face. "Ladies, please control yourselves!" Konatsu then removed the pizza from his face and gently placed it on a plate. "Well I guess this is my lunch."  
  
Ranma got up from the floor and stood between the two combatants. "Calm down you two!"  
  
"Calm down?! Akane tried to hit me!"  
  
"You wrote 'DIE' on my food!"  
  
"I did not!"  
  
"You did too!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Too!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
Akane turned to the plate to get the proof, but the okonomiyaki was already a gooey mess.  
  
"Konatsu! You saw what she wrote?" Akane demanded an answer.  
  
"No, I didn't." Konatsu lied.  
  
Akane turned to Ukyou, "I know what I saw."  
  
Ranma didn't know who to believe, he was too busy stuffing his face back at the counter that he never bothered to look in the first place. "Ukyou would never do that, right Ukyou?" Ranma looked at Ukyou's face and expected an answer.  
  
Ukyou couldn't lie to Ranma. She just looked away.  
  
"Right Ukyou?" Ranma asked again.  
  
"WHY DIDN'T YOU CHOOSE ME!?" Ukyou screamed and ran to her bedroom upstairs.  
  
Ranma stood there dumbfounded.  
  
"I LOVED YOU!" Ukyou screamed but it was from her bedroom and the sound was muffled.  
  
Ranma looked down and sighed. "Akane, can I have a word with her," he turned to face her, "alone."  
  
Akane was still ready to kill someone. Ranma just stood there. "I think I need to handle this."  
  
"I'll be waiting here Ranma." Akane held her mallet ready for some action.  
  
Ranma took a deep breath. He was not happy about going to Ukyou's room. He would rather be facing a room full of starving cats then go upstairs. He slowly walked up the stairs and stood at the open doorway of Ukyou's bedroom. He saw her lying on her bed, stomach down but she wasn't crying. Her face was turned towards the doorway and her eyes were watery.  
  
"Uh, Ukyou," Ranma started. He just didn't know really what to say.   
  
"I thought I was the cute one. I thought, that in time it would have been me Ran-chan." She closed her eyes. "I knew this would happen when you went to Juuban with her last summer."  
  
"Yes, Ukyou. It happened over the summer." Ranma confessed.  
  
"Why? Why didn't you take me too? You almost always took Shampoo and I on your outings. I didn't even know you were going until after you left." Ukyou's face turned sour. "I guess your parents plan worked after all."  
  
"It was more than that. We were kidnapped by youma and had to survive for over two months in a place that might as well have been hell. Both of us changed. And..." Ranma stopped.  
  
"Hell? Where did you go? I thought you were just hiding in Juuban to be with Akane."  
  
"Uh. We were in Juuban at Mr. Miyagi's dojo. It was pop's idea to teach me to be a sensei. Akane just tagged along since she wanted to learn the karate form of martial arts. Then the youma showed up and I started fighting them and..." Ranma got depressed thinking about that terrible part of his life.  
  
"And?" Ukyou was weirded out.  
  
"They took Akane. They took her to that place and only I had the power to save her. I screwed up and got stuck in a really bad place for a long time. Akane and I... We now share a bond." Ranma was being very careful about the words he spoke.  
  
"Ranma, you are such a pathetic idiot. I heard that the Sailor Senshi were supposed to deal with the youma. Only they have the power to fight the youma. It is so like you to take on a fight that is out of your league." Ukyou sat up in her bed and lost all of her sadness. She was regaining control of herself.  
  
Ranma stood up, "Yep, but in the end, I got Akane back and now I can actually say I love her. Please Ukyou, you are my lifelong friend. Friends?"  
  
Ukyou smiled, "Friends!" She jumped up and gave him a hug.  
  
"Uh, don't let Akane see that."  
  
Ukyou quickly let go.  
  
Ranma went back downstairs. He was expecting Akane to come charging up but she was leaning against the wall.  
  
Akane opened her eyes, "Friends?"  
  
"Yes, friends. But you're the one for me." Ranma held out his hand and took Akane's. They walked hand in hand back to the counter, dropped off some yen and went towards the doorway.  
  
Ukyou was looking at them and as they were walking out. They stopped just at the entryway and held each other's arms. They gave each other a small kiss and turned to leave.  
  
Ukyou was hit with deja vu. It was just like her dream. Although none of the really bad parts was going to happen. Tiaras? They were both wearing tiaras? Ukyou thought about the youma incident in the summer. There were news reports of Sailor Senshi being lost for two months. Ukyou felt a strange chill about this revelation. Juuban? They were in Juuban. The Senshi hang out in Juuban. No! Could it be?  
  
Ukyou scrambled clearing out the clutter in her mind about the Juuban incident. It was Sailor Mercury that got lost for a while. She had short dark hair just like Akane. Oh my god! Could Akane be a Senshi? She disappeared a lot. It would explain how she could produce mallets from thin air. Was she Sailor Mercury? Was that why Akane was taken by the youma?  
  
Ukyou's head was about to explode. If this was true, then everything made sense. Twisted sense, but sense nonetheless. And that would explain Shampoo's defeat. It was all coming together.  
  
"Konatsu!" In an instant Konatsu appeared in front of his mistress ready to serve. "After we close tonight, I need you to go to Juuban."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Early Monday morning at Juuban High School, the principal had a meeting with his potential new teacher.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, but I can only be here for a week. My work at Furinkan is not done yet. There are still far too many delinquents that have to be disciplined there. As I promised, I can see what your situation is like and make recommendations. But that's it."  
  
The woman across the principal was Miss Hinako Ninomiya; she was in her adult form. She must have drained someone on the way to the office.  
  
"Very well, at least deal with these problem students. They are the ones I have the most concern about." He handed four student packets to Hinako.  
  
"Only four students? I was called for four students? These must be pretty bad kids." Hinako considered the challenge.  
  
"Well, actually, two of them came from Furinkan High. I want to make sure that they don't bring over that sort of trouble to my school."  
  
"Hmm." Miss Hinako looked at the names printed on the student folders. "Ranma Saotome and Akane Saotome, why yes these names are very familiar to me. I met them on the way in. I see why you asked for me specifically. Now, who are Usagi Tsukino and Makoto Kino?"  
  
"Usagi suffers from terminal tardiness and her academic efforts are lacking. She alone is bringing down the school's grade point average. Makoto is another martial artist like the Saotomes."  
  
"Martial artists are easy for me to deal with. Tardiness is a bit more challenging. I'll take the assignment but only for a week. Who knows what will happen in Furinkan without me there to keep it under control."  
  
"When can you start?"  
  
"I can be available next Monday."  
  
"Very well. I've heard excellent things about your methods, I'm certain I'll be pleased with the... Uh... Miss Ninomiya?" The principal saw Hinako shrink about 4 dress sizes and now has the appearance of a 12-year-old girl.  
  
"Oh, goody, goody!! I get to play with the bad kids!" Hinako waved her arms and danced around the room in childish glee. She then made a beeline to the door and disappeared from view.  
  
"Now that's something you don't see everyday."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Akane dragged the shriveled, drained remains of Ranma onto school grounds. "I told you not to pick on Miss Hinako!"  
  
Rei saw Ranma's condition and pulled out her henshin stick, "Are the youma back?"  
  
Akane replied, "No youma, just an old friend."  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Some of you may complain about the Konatsu being a spy thread, had already been done in "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun". Remember at the end of that tale, time was erased and many events were undone.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 5, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	6. Kick the can

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 5 Kick the can  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Ryoga was wandering the landscape of Japan. Nothing was out of the ordinary in this journey. He was lost. Again.  
  
He was going nowhere in particular. He thought of Akane. He thought of Akari. He thought how pathetic his existence has been so far. Beating up Ranma would cheer him up. He just wanted to go home.  
  
Ryoga felt raindrops falling from the sky and pulled open his umbrella. He continued to walk and the rain got heavier. He knew that was going to pork out if he didn't find shelter soon. He saw a farmhouse ahead and approached it. The sign on the door read 'Unryuu'.  
  
He looked at the farmhouse and thought that it looked familiar. He went to the door and knocked.  
  
An old man opened the door, "Could I help you young man?"  
  
He looked at the family name on the door again, he asked, "Do you know a girl named Akari?"  
  
"Akari you say? She's my granddaughter. What business you have with her?"  
  
"I... I... Uh..." Ryoga was at a loss of words. What were the odds that this was her home? "May I see her?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She's my friend."  
  
The old man suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "AKARI! Someone's here to see you!" Ryoga was startled and he fell backwards into the rain.  
  
Akari came to the front door. "Who is it grandpa? Oh, Ryoga!" Akari got out of the house and picked up the little black pig that was sitting in a puddle. "You're so wet, here let me get you some warm water and dry you off." She went back inside to the amazement of her grandfather.  
  
"You're kidding me! It's TRUE!" Grandpa glanced back to the porch and saw Ryoga's backpack, umbrella and clothes soaking up the rain.  
  
"Well I'll be." He went outside, gathered Ryoga's things and went back in the house. "AKARI! You've got to tell me this is a joke." He placed Ryoga's things near the front door and followed his granddaughter into the bathroom.  
  
Sure enough, there was a man wearing only a bandanna sitting in the tub. He had a look of complete embarrassment on his red face. A bucket of warm water from the sink was used to perform the transformation. Akari gave Ryoga a towel and he covered himself up.  
  
"Uh, Akari, shouldn't you wait until you are married?"  
  
"M... M... Married!?" Ryoga fainted.  
  
  
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Setsuna called a meeting of the Senshi that night at Rei's shrine. The others were worried since Setsuna only called meetings when the world was going to end. Everyone got there that evening except for Usagi. She was late as usual.  
  
Ranma was sitting in a corner holding his knees to his chest. He was still deathly afraid of cats. Minako had brought Artemis and Usagi was expected to bring Luna. Ranma begged, "Does THAT have to be here?"  
  
Setsuna answered, "They have to know what's going on. They are as much a part of the team as you are. They might have some insight as to what I'm about to discuss."  
  
"Ranma, you really need to work on your fear of me. I'm not going to bite you," Artemis purred. He then licked himself.  
  
"YAAAA!" Ranma hid his head under his knees. He started shaking some more as his feline proximity detector sensed the other guest arriving.  
  
"Sorry I'm late! Hope I didn't keep you all waiting!" Usagi entered with Luna running alongside.  
  
"Didn't you know? The meeting ended fifteen minutes ago." Rei sarcastically replied.  
  
Ranma whimpered. Akane sat next to him to try to calm him down. Ranma was not panicked enough to Neko-ken, but it made Akane a little uneasy anyways.  
  
Setsuna stood up, "This isn't a time for jokes. Usagi, we've been waiting for you and now we are all here, we can now begin." Setsuna took a deep breath. All the other Senshi except for the two new ones bugged their eyes out. When Setsuna took a deep breath before speaking, it meant the world really was going to end.  
  
"I've lost my power to enter the Gates of Time." Setsuna simply announced. "Therefore, I cannot tell the future nor can I alter the timeline in any way."  
  
"That's it? I thought the world was going to end." Minako sighed with relief.  
  
"What happened?" Haruka asked. Michiru continued, "Is it the negaverse?"  
  
"I.. I don't know," Setsuna reluctantly replied. Now all the Senshi were truly freaked out. I don't know was a statement that was not in Setsuna's vocabulary. "It felt like something I felt almost twenty years ago. But back then I looked into that event and found that the time distortion was nothing to worry about."  
  
"This was before any of the Senshi reawakened, wasn't it?" Haruka asked.  
  
"Yes, I was the only Senshi at that time, but the time distortion came and went. So I didn't bother to do anything about it. I only remember it since it was a different feeling that I get when the Negaverse alters the timeline. Now, the main reason I called you here was to simply let you know about my lack of powers. I am hoping that this is a temporary loss of power. I don't want to take chances."  
  
Luna sat down next to Setsuna, "How are your other powers affected? Can you still transform?"  
  
"Yes, I can still transform and my powers seem to be intact. I've checked with the observatory and planet Pluto seems to be where it should be. I was worried that something had happened to it."  
  
Luna turned to Rei, "Can you do a fire reading? Maybe a glimpse into the future can shed some light on Setsuna's problem."  
  
"I'll do that," Rei looked at Setsuna. It was nice for Rei to be called on to look into the future instead of Setsuna.  
  
"That's why I called the meeting here." Setsuna smiled her all knowing smile.  
  
"There's more to this, isn't there?" Haruka glared at Setsuna. Setsuna never told everything. She always held something back. It's just the way she was.  
  
"Let's see what Rei sees," Setsuna cryptically answered.  
  
"Cats... Cats..." whimpered Ranma.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Moments later, the Senshi were in the fire reading chamber, Rei was dressed in her priestess robes and had the fire stoked and ready. She began the chants and prayers and gazed deep into the fire. She concentrated on Setsuna and her future. A vision began to form. She saw people running in the streets, fire, and war. Something really bad was coming. She looked into the fire for a hint as to what demon was bringing this to the world. She only saw people dying. Rioting. Starvation. War. Panic. Chaos.  
  
Rei was confused. She felt no evil. Only the deaths of millions of people were all she saw. That was enough to terrify her. This was not the work of the Negaverse. Anytime the negaverse was involved, visions had overwhelming evil. She felt absolutely nothing. What caused this can mask its evil presence from Rei.  
  
"I see death and destruction in the future. I can't see who's doing it." Rei told the crowd.  
  
"Can you see Setsuna?" Makoto asked looking at Setsuna's anxious face.  
  
"No. I can't see any of us. In fact, there are so many people who will be affected that they're overwhelming me. It's total chaos." Rei sat on her knees frustrated at her lack of focus.  
  
"Can you see black shadows Rei?" Hotaru suggested. Michiru was surprised; Hotaru almost never made suggestions at Senshi meetings and the question was out of place.  
  
"Shadows? Hmm. Let me focus on that," Rei gazed into the fire focusing on shadows or dark figures. After a few minutes, she came up blank.  
  
"Why did you want to know about shadows Hotaru-chan?" Michiru asked her adopted daughter.  
  
"They were..." Hotaru stopped; she closed her eyes and didn't want to think about it anymore.  
  
"They were what?" Haruka was now interested in this.  
  
"I dreamed about them." Hotaru showed a little bit of fear and trembled.  
  
The other Senshi saw the change in Hotaru's demeanor. She was starting to shake in fear more than Ranma was shaking from the presence of the cats.  
  
She opened her eyes and looked at her parents. "They killed you mama... And you papa... Those eyes. Those red eyes..." Hotaru shed tears and began to visibly shake. Her parents were noticeably concerned about this vision and how it was affecting their daughter.  
  
"Everything is fine Hotaru-chan. We are right here." Michiru assured her daughter. "It was just a dream."  
  
Hotaru just hugged her mother. Michiru looked at Rei. Rei looked at the fire and concentrated now on Michiru and Haruka. She stared and stared into the fire. She saw a bright flash, like a camera flashbulb going off. She felt a cold chill. And then she felt nothing.  
  
"I saw a flash and then that was it." Rei was disappointed with herself. She wanted to glean some useful information that the Senshi could use. "I've seen the future. I'm terrified. It's chaos."  
  
Luna came to Rei and set down next to her. She glanced at Setsuna who was standing against the wall looking at empty space. "Rei, let's try again tomorrow." Luna faced the group. "We must all be on our guard. If anyone senses anything," Luna directed herself to Michiru and Hotaru, "or any abnormal dreams. Alert me or Artemis at once."  
  
"Why d-d-does it h-h-ave to be y-you?" squeaked Ranma.  
  
Akane interrupted, "I'll report anything from Ranma."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
About half an hour of idle chat continued from the Senshi. Nothing was accomplished and Setsuna simply didn't talk anymore. They all agreed that Luna, Artemis and Rei would meet at the shrine tomorrow and focus on fire reading. Ranma was happy that he didn't have to come.  
  
Ranma and Akane were walking away from of the shrine when Akane sensed a familiar presence. With a quick motion, she reached into a bush and produced a small old geezer.  
  
"And what the hell are YOU doing here?!" Akane shouted to Happosai.  
  
"Nothing," Happosai sheepishly uttered, wishing he had been better hidden.  
  
They looked at the old man and wondered if he heard anything that could compromise their secret identities.  
  
"Nothing! Yeah right! Why are you so far away from home?!" Ranma ordered.  
  
"I'm just passing though."  
  
Ranma took Happosai from Akane. "Stole all the underwear in Nerima eh?"  
  
"Ok, ok. I wanted to see the women's martial arts class you were teaching! Is it too much to ask for you to have your master present when you teach?"  
  
"Where did you get such a stupid idea like that from?! What happened? Did you replace your brain with underwear?!"  
  
"But you had so many ladies over at the dojo. You must share Ranma!" Happosai gave the big googly eyes.  
  
"Oh, you've really flipped you old freak!" Ranma was relieved, if he thought he was Sailor Sun, he would already be demanding him to transform right then and there.  
  
"You got me all wrong Ranma! I just wanted to see the pretty ladies you hang out with."  
  
"Oh, is that so?" Ranma whispered in Akane's ear and she dropped out of sight. Ranma looked around and found a faucet. He walked over and gave himself a splash. Happosai was overjoyed, "Oh, Ranma! You make your master happy!"  
  
"You want pretty ladies! FINE!" Ranko dropped Happosai on the ground. He bounced like a beach ball and landed on Ranko's chest. Ranko let out a terrible scream. "I'm being attacked by a youma! HELP!"  
  
"Very funny Ranma. Like anyone cared about a youma around here. There are no martial artists for kilometers."  
  
Ranko screamed again and as if on cue. Sailor Io appeared.  
  
Happosai's eyes turned into hearts at the sight of Sailor Io. "Pretty lady!"  
  
Ranko pointed to Happosai. "It's a youma! He's trying to drain my energy!"  
  
Happosai jumped at Sailor Io and plunged towards her chest. "Pretty lady!"  
  
Sailor Io was pissed. She simply kicked Happosai right into the wall surrounding the temple.  
  
Ranko ran away. "HELP!!"  
  
Sailor Io walked over to Happosai and made a pose. "I am Sailor Io! Touching girls when they don't want to be touched is an evil thing! In the name of Jupiter's moon Io. I'm going to punish you!"  
  
Happosai didn't know if he was in heaven or hell. So he did the only thing he could. He leapt at Io with his arms stretched out, "I want to touch a pretty lady!"  
  
Io punched him back into the wall. Happosai jumped again. Io punched him back. He jumped again. She punched again.  
  
A voice from behind called out, "I am Sailor Sun! You are being very naughty and your heart is evil. In the name of our life giving Sun. I will punish you!" Sailor Sun stood there in a pose in all her glory. That felt so wrong!  
  
Happosai was overjoyed! Two pretty ladies! He leapt at Sun who promptly kicked him into the air.  
  
As Io and Sun were playing hacky-sack with Happosai, nine other Senshi appeared to assist in dealing with the youma they thought was attacking.  
  
Happosai's lust went into overdrive. He jumped at Sailor Moon who ducked and he flew over her right into Sailor Mars. Mars slapped him over to Jupiter who smashed him into the ground. Happosai had an excellent view from his location at Jupiter's dress that his eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates. He drooled, "What a view!"  
  
Jupiter blushed and kicked him over to Uranus who was ready for him. She gave a huge punch that flattened Happosai like a pancake onto the temple wall. He slid down to the ground and inflated back to normal instantly. He saw Neptune, "Is your green hair natural? Let's find out!" Uranus jumped in the way to defend her and gave Happosai another punch. He flew into a light pole and wrapped around it like a bent pipe.  
  
Moon, Venus and Saturn tried to sneak away, but Happosai saw them and flew to them. "You're invited to play too!" Happosai gleefully called to them. Venus screamed. She'd rather be fighting Queen Beryl than this horrid creature. Saturn pulled out her Silence Glaive wondering if she should use it to dispatch this demon back to the negaverse. Sun and Io quickly stood in the way and defended the three from Happosai's attack.  
  
All the pummeling did was give more energy to Happosai. He started to pick girls at random and leapt from girl to girl. Each one delivered a blow that would be fatal to most humans.  
  
That didn't slow down Happosai. With repeated screams of "Pretty Lady!" and "Let me see under your skirt!" The Senshi bounced him around like a volleyball.  
  
Sun got fed up with how Happosai just wouldn't stay down, she cried, "Take this you old freak! Searing Plasma Blast!" Happosai countered with "Happo Daikarin!" The plasma destroyed the firecracker. Happosai went flying into the air streaming smoke and flame.  
  
Jupiter still fuming that he looked under her dress cried, "Supreme Thunder!" And she zapped the freak even higher into the sky.  
  
Moments later, Happosai finally hit the ground. The Senshi approached his body. Moon said, "I think you went too far." Jupiter added, "I don't think we went far enough."  
  
Sun stood ahead of the group. "He's not human. Watch."  
  
Sun ran off and came back a moment later with a bra she got from Mars' clothesline. "Hey! Give that back!" Sailor Mars was angry.  
  
"Look at this." Sun tossed the bra near the body of Happosai.  
  
The body started the move and then it pounced on the bra. He sat there and fondled it. "Oh, happy day! I got to touch lots of pretty ladies. My life is complete. I can die now."  
  
Pluto said with all seriousness, "Be careful what you wish for."  
  
Uranus had heard enough. "World Shaking!"  
  
Happosai's eyes darkened. "Pretty lady looks like a man!" He then was propelled at supersonic speed into the sky.  
  
Sun went over to the smoking crater where Happosai once was and retrieved Mars' bra. "Sorry, but after a washing and a sterilization, it will be good as new."  
  
Sailor Mars snatched her bra back, "Don't you EVER take my stuff again you pervert!"  
  
"Who are you calling a pervert!" Sun retorted.  
  
Sailor Io just sighed.  
  
"What was that thing?!" Luna asked the crowd.  
  
Io said, "It was my dad's sensei."  
  
The others looked at Io as if she confessed that she was Queen Beryl.  
  
"Don't ask." Io continued. "Uh, where is Sun?"  
  
Luna pointed her paw at the Sailor Sun shaped hole in Sailor Mars' temple wall. "I think she went that way after I came out. Sorry."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Hours later in a garbage heap, Happosai emerged from the refuse. "Pretty ladies... Ranma is so lucky to have pretty ladies. They even sound like him." Happosai thought about his physical condition. It will take weeks if not months to heal. It was worth it. The short skirts. The tight clothes they wore. Happosai wanted to do this again sometime. He passed out.  
  
Konatsu came by and looked at the remains. He just came back from the shrine and wanted to follow up on Happosai's condition. Happosai was going to live. That was too bad.  
  
Konatsu then leapt out into the night. He had news for his mistress.  
  
  
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Some of you may complain about the Konatsu being a spy thread, had already been done in "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun". Remember at the end of that tale, time was erased and many events were undone.  
  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 2, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
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	7. Konatsu's report

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 6 Konatsu's report  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
  
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"Corporal, come in here." Sergeant Paul Miller commanded. He was not amused. Corporal Gonzalez requisitioned some cameras and remote video surveillance equipment and he wanted to know why.  
  
Corporal Jose Gonzalez was a Hispanic man in his early twenties. Tall, thin and ready to change the world. Miller saluted and asked him to sit down. "I've looked over your requisition and before I approve it, I need to know why you need this equipment. It's expensive and your report was a little vague."  
  
Gonzalez's spirits were raised at the news that he would actually get what he asked for. "I've observed damage on the test range that could only have come from the use of heavy ordinance. Probably C4, dynamite or TNT, but I hadn't been able to locate the individuals responsible since they seem to disappear before I can make a direct observation. I have with me," he reached into his briefcase and produced a manila envelope and placed it on the Sergeant's desk, "photos of five locations that have had heavy damage."  
  
The Sergeant lit up his eyes and opened the envelope. It was filled with black and white eight by ten glossy photos of shattered rocks, open craters and burnt wreckage. "Any idea on who's doing this?"  
  
"So far, the only conclusions I can come up with are domestic terrorists practicing with black market ordinance. Or worse, they are using homemade weapons. The damage is definitely not from small or large arms fire. I think they may have grenades or even RPGs. My main concern is the amount of ordinance used in these little jaunts."  
  
"Where are you going to place the cameras? There isn't enough equipment available for five locations."  
  
"I've found one location that was hit five times in the last two weeks. Check the map I gave you, it's marked location number two. If they continue their pattern, I should hit pay dirt in a few days."  
  
"Are you sure this was not caused by previous practice runs? It could also be some of the Marines from Yuma Arizona. They tend to get bored."  
  
"That's one of my first conclusions. However, last Thursday, the Yuma boys were on inspection and no one had left the base. The fourth set of pictures was damage caused on Thursday. Unless someone went AWOL, it wasn't the Marines."  
  
"Damn, I was hoping to make them look bad." Miller stamped the forms, signed them and handed them to Gonzalez. "Here you go, now don't you dare lose or break any of that. Or it's coming out of your measly pay."  
  
Gonzalez held in his glee. "Thank you sir." He stood up, saluted and left to get his equipment. He thought, "Whoever you pathetic rednecks are, you're mine."  
  
========================================  
  
Ryoga awoke in a small bed. He didn't remember how he got there. He realized he was naked under the covers and bolted upright. He looked around and found he was in a bedroom. The decorations were very feminine with pictures of flowers, stuffed pigs and awards dotting the walls. He examined the pink and white furniture and saw his clothes sitting in a chair.   
  
The clothes were neatly washed and folded. He got out of bed and got dressed. On the desk next to the chair, he saw a framed photo of himself. Little x's were marked in pen on his cheek in the photo. Little hearts were drawn around the outline of his face. He turned the frame around and saw the words 'Ryoga Hibiki', with little hearts, happy faces and a little outline of a pig drawn around the name.  
  
He put the picture down. He saw a stuffed toy pig. It was black and had a solid yellow bandanna tied to it. It was sitting next to the photo of Ryoga.  
  
Ryoga felt good. This was not normal. He was not supposed to feel good. It made him uncomfortable. "This must be dream," he thought. "No one could possibly care about me like that. Could they?"  
  
He crept up to the door and slowly opened it. He went into the hallway when a familiar voice called out, "AKARI! Someone's here to see you!" It was the old man that greeted him at the door. "I think he survived the night!"  
  
Ryoga went to the railing that separated the hallway from the first floor. Ryoga was on the second floor with a great view of the living room below. Akari's grandfather was sitting in a simple chair smoking a pipe and told Ryoga, "She's outside doing her chores, slopping the pigs, you know, fun stuff, should be back in a moment. C'mon down son."  
  
Ryoga went down and sat in a chair near grandfather. "You say you're her grandfather?"  
  
"Yep, on her mother's side." He recalled Akari telling him that Ryoga was there when her other grandfather passed away.  
  
"Oh, sorry about last night. I didn't expect Akari to hit me with warm water like that."  
  
"Oh, nothing to be embarrassed about my son! I think she did that for my sake. She was carrying on for the longest time about you changing into a pig. I thought she simply lost her marbles. Hanging around pigs all day could do that you know. Now you show up and proved me wrong."  
  
Ryoga looked away from grandfather. He didn't like anyone reminding him of his curse. "DAMN YOU RANMA!" Ryoga screamed in his head like so many times before.  
  
"What's the matter son?" Grandfather was quick to pick up on emotions. He was not a man that could be fooled easily.  
  
Ryoga looked back at grandfather. "Nothing."  
  
"Nothing eh? P-Chan?"  
  
Ryoga turned white. "P-P-P-Chan? Where did you hear that name?"  
  
"From Akari of course. She said that some girl named Ranma told her. Sometimes I couldn't get my granddaughter to stop talking about you. She just kept going on and on about how you defeated Katsunishiki, her prize pig."  
  
Ryoga stopped listening, just the mention of the name Ranma was enough to have him phase out of reality. He phased back in when Akari entered the room.  
  
"Ryoga!" Akari ran toward him and grabbed him. "I've missed you so! Why haven't you come by sooner?"  
  
"Uh... I... I..." Ryoga stammered.  
  
"Got lost again?" Akari answered for him.  
  
Ryoga looked down, depression set in, "Yeah."  
  
Akari's contagious smile could cheer up almost anything. "C'mon, let me show you around." She took him by the hand and gave him a tour of the Unryuu sumo pig farm. Pigs? Why did it have to be pigs?  
  
Grandfather kept a watchful eye on Ryoga. He wanted to make sure that this man was truly the right man for the job. Akari's other grandfather before he died swore up and down that the right man for her would be someone who could beat the family's prize pig. According to Akari, this was the man.  
  
Hours passed by, Ryoga was actually laughing and smiling with Akari. Talking about his travels, his self-taught education, and his knowledge of science, language and martial arts. Grandfather picked up on everything. There was still a test he had to perform.  
  
"Ryoga, I need you to go to the store for me son." He handed Ryoga a one thousand yen note and asked, "go down the street to the store and get me a dozen eggs. Bring back the change, got it?"  
  
"Uh... Ok. I'll be back." Ryoga gulped. He was not sure he'll be back before the eggs expired. He went to the front door feeling depressed since he thought he was not going to see Akari for a while. As he left grandfather called out, "Akari needs those eggs."  
  
Ryoga went to the front gate, and turned to the market. In a few minutes he entered the store, found the eggs, bought them and returned to the house.  
  
Ryoga entered and announced, "I'm back." Grandfather was sitting in his chair facing the door with an evil grin on his face. He got up, thanked Ryoga, got his change and took the eggs to the kitchen. The refrigerator had plenty of eggs already so he had to make room to fit them in.  
  
"He feels the same way about her," grandfather quietly said. Time to get to know my future grandson-in-law in detail.  
  
  
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Konatsu was waiting patiently for his mistress to awaken. The alarm clock went off and Ukyou hit the snooze again. This was not like her. She usually awoke with the sun and practiced martial arts cooking for an hour before breakfast. He was a little concerned that his mistress was slipping in her devotion to martial arts.  
  
He practiced with his takemitsu in the main dining area until he heard his mistress get up. In a flash, he changed from his stealth ninja outfit into a pink and white flowered kimono with full makeup. He then knelt by Ukyou's bedroom door awaiting her instructions.  
  
"Good morning Konatsu," Ukyou greeted her servant this way every morning. Konatsu was ever so grateful for the kind words he received from his mistress. It was infinitely better than the life he led with his stepmother. He had a stepmother who raised him in a world without kindness. A stepmother, who had a stepson, but raised him as a daughter and taught him the female ninja arts.  
  
"I have news for you about Ranma and Akane." Konatsu proudly announced.  
  
"You do? That was quick. What news?" Ukyou was curious, she barely remembered sending him out to Juuban to spy on Ranma.  
  
"You were right. Akane is a Senshi." Konatsu looked at his mistress expecting her to be pleased with this information.  
  
"You're kidding right?" Ukyou giggled.  
  
"No. I saw her transform. Ranma too." He said with a straight face.  
  
"Ranma?! You said Ranma? Please tell me you didn't say Ranma." Ukyou was shocked at this, this must be some sort of joke.  
  
"Yes, he first splashed himself with a faucet, became a girl and then transformed into a Sailor Senshi. She then pummeled Happosai."  
  
Ukyou was rather taken aback at this. "Ok, Konatsu, seriously, Ranma cannot be a Senshi."  
  
"Yes he is."  
  
"No way."  
  
"I saw it with my own eyes."  
  
"You must have been mistaken."  
  
"No." Konatsu was frustrated. He was giving a truthful accurate report to his beloved mistress and she won't believe him.  
  
"It's impossible, from what I heard, the Senshi are royalty of some kind. Ranma is definitely not royalty material. That jerk wouldn't last five minutes in the emperor's presence before he would insult him and get deported to Brazil." She burst out laughing, images of Ranma being booted from the emperor's palace flashed in her head.  
  
"Mistress, with all my deepest respect. Ranma and Akane are both Sailor Senshi." Konatsu was saddened that he wasn't being taken seriously.  
  
"Ok, so I take it that Akane is Sailor Mercury." Ukyou said between giggles.  
  
"Actually no. She is Sailor Io. She made a speech announcing her name for Happosai."  
  
"HAPPOSAI! She wouldn't give that leach the time of day! Sailor Io? That's a new one! HA HA HA!" Ukyou had never heard of Sailor Io. There were only ten as far as she heard.  
  
Konatsu saw that this was going nowhere fast. "Ranma is called Sailor Sun. She made a speech to Happosai as well."  
  
Ukyou fell to the floor laughing, she had seen pictures of Sailor Sun. She looked nothing like Ranma, girl or guy. Well she did have red hair, but she was not Ranma. "Now I know you are making this up! Ranma making a speech to Happosai! Ranma in a Sailor mini-skirt! Oh, Nabiki would kill for photos!" Ukyou was holding her stomach since it was starting to hurt.  
  
Konatsu put the photos he was about to give Ukyou back into his pocket. The very thought that these photos getting into Nabiki's hands would dishonor his friendship he felt for the Saotomes. They helped him get away from his stepmother. "I'm sorry mistress. It was all a joke. I thought that this news would cheer you up." Konatsu lied. He felt really bad but he couldn't give the proof to the Saotome's secret unless he was sure that his mistress would not dishonor them by telling others.  
  
Ukyou kept laughing for a minute until the joke wore off. "Thank you Konatsu, I really needed a good laugh. I must have been insane to even think that Akane could be a Senshi. Ranma... He he he..." She started giggling again.  
  
Konatsu was disappointed. He had hoped that Ukyou trusted him that he would give totally accurate reports. He whispered, "Why disrespect me? I thought you were better than that."  
  
Ukyou stopped giggling. She watched Konatsu sadly bow his head and sulk. "I didn't mean to disrespect you. I'm sorry I sent you to Juuban. I didn't know what I was thinking."  
  
Konatsu barely spoke, "I love you Ukyou. Please don't laugh."  
  
Ukyou knew that Konatsu loved her. She however didn't return that love since she was so focused on catching Ranma. All this time Konatsu was nothing more than a fixture at the restaurant. At this moment, she felt a tiny tinge of guilt and even started to see the form in front of her as a person. Ukyou took a deep breath. "I'll stop laughing my friend."  
  
Konatsu felt a bit of pain with the word 'friend'. But then lit up and smiled at Ukyou. She said 'friend'! Now, will she ask me to go out with her on a date?  
  
"Well, I've got to get ready for school." Ukyou smiled at Konatsu and closed her bedroom door. Ukyou thought about Konatsu. He was always there for her. She was just too blind to see it. It was good to have a friend who she could count on. She felt a bit happier than she felt in a long time. She dressed and left for school.  
  
Later, after Ukyou had been gone for a while, Konatsu studied the photos of Sailor Io and Sun. The set of pictures that showed Ranko's transformation into Sailor Sun was absolute proof the she was a Senshi. He slid the photos in an envelope and put them away for now. Konatsu's eyes turned to hearts, "Oh to be a magical girl! Tee hee! I must ask Ranma about what it's like!"  
  
========================================  
  
  
Far away deep underground, messages, phone calls and emails were being sent worldwide to selected people, asking questions and getting answers. The list of candidates was narrowed. Missions have been selected and for some, already assigned. The seeds of discord have been sown.  
  
Survival is assured.  
  
========================================  
  
  
Haruka sent Michiru and Hotaru to the park. Hotaru was happy to be spending time with Michiru-mama. It usually meant lots of ice cream and playtime. Haruka wanted to be alone so she can have a talk with Setsuna. Setsuna was holding back information. There was no doubt about that. Haruka pulled up the evening paper. There were riots in Bangladesh. Pakistan and India were positioning troops near Kashmir. Iraq was defiant again. North and South Korea were exchanging insults. China once again was demanding Taiwan to rejoin the mainland. Food riots were occurring in Russia.  
  
Haruka didn't like to read headline news; she tossed that part of the newspaper onto the table and kept the sports section. She read about the current race results and hoped that one day soon she could go into professional driving. Nice dream, but being a Senshi was a bigger responsibility.  
  
Earlier in the day, Haruka and Michiru looked into Michiru's Deep Aqua Mirror to see anything about the future. All it showed were people shouting and being paranoid. There was nothing but unrest. This only made Haruka more resolved to beat the secrets out of Setsuna.  
  
Setsuna came home. She was quick to notice the lack of people in the house and tried to get out the door unnoticed. Haruka called out, "We need to talk, please sit down."  
  
Setsuna knew she was busted. She reluctantly came to the dining room table and sat down. "Ok, what shall we talk about?"  
  
"Don't give me that innocent routine! You know something and I want to know what it is!" Haruka was angry. She knew that Setsuna knows what the future holds, and if what they saw at Rei's temple last night was any indication; she needed to know how to protect her family.  
  
"I already told you what I know." Setsuna answered.  
  
"That's not good enough!" Haruka shouted. "Hotaru dreamed that Michiru and I died! Is my daughter going to be an orphan?!"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"You don't know? The great Setsuna doesn't know? You expect me to believe that?" She slammed her fist on the table. Haruka was trying desperately not to reach across the table and throttle the information out of her.  
  
"Fine, I'll explain, but the answer is as I said. I don't know." Setsuna reclined a bit in her chair to keep out of strangling distance. "I am not omnipotent, contrary to popular belief."  
  
"Ok, explain." Now we are getting somewhere Haruka thought.  
  
"We are dealing with a time fork. A splinter in time that should not exist."  
  
Haruka relaxed a tiny bit. She gestured for her to keep talking.  
  
Setsuna continued, "It's like this, it's possible for a future event to affect the past that causes the future event to happen. It's like a circle. Since the future event needs the past event to cause the future, this is a classic example of a time paradox."  
  
Haruka started to feel a headache coming on.  
  
"Now, this time loop occurred by an event about twenty years in a possible future. That event caused an event twenty years in the past. However, the event was undone years ago so the original event became a moot point. The time loop disappeared and all is right in the world. The entire timeline ceased to exist. It never happened."  
  
Haruka was massaging her temples, "So, what is affecting the present?"  
  
"I don't know." Setsuna answered matter of factly.  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"Because I don't know everything. The only clue I had was that a few weeks ago, I felt a time ripple. It was very faint, but it felt just like the one I felt twenty years ago. But it could not be the same event causing it."  
  
"Are you sure about that?" Haruka was getting suspicious.  
  
"I'm positive. The old event was cancelled out. It never happened." Setsuna spoke with an air of confidence.  
  
"And how to you know this?  
  
"Because doomsday had already past."  
  
"Say again?"  
  
"If the time loop was in place, we, all the Senshi, would already be dead years ago." Setsuna took a view out of the dining room window. "Since I can see Juuban in all its splendor right now. It means the time loop never happened and we have nothing to worry about." She bit her lip.  
  
"What was the event?"  
  
Setsuna paused. She closed her eyes, "The stuff of nightmares."  
  
"End of the world?"  
  
"Far worse. It was the end of everything. World war III." She opened her eyes and made a hint of a smile, "But it was stopped."  
  
"How?"  
  
Setsuna started staring into space. "We are not the only heroes on this planet. We must not blind ourselves into thinking that the Senshi are the only people in the world that can make a difference. We have to take our blinders off and stop looking at the world in tunnel vision. There are others everywhere who give their lives and sacrifice everything to protect our world. It was stopped by such a hero."  
  
"Who was this hero?"  
  
"It doesn't matter. He already saved the world. Because you and I are sitting here right now, he already succeeded. Everything he had done was wiped away by the ravages of time."  
  
"So why the omens?"  
  
"That's what I don't know." Setsuna got comfortable in her chair looking out the window admiring the view.  
  
"What happened? Was it World War III?"  
  
"Imagine your worst nightmare and multiply it one thousand fold. You might then get close to what that future was. I pray that that nightmare never comes to pass. Only the fact that doomsday should have already happened gives me comfort."  
  
"Do you have any idea what the fire reading meant?"  
  
"No. Please stop asking me. I really don't know." Setsuna gave a look that she was about to cry.  
  
Setsuna was honestly telling the truth, for once, Haruka thought. She got up and went out the front door. She went to the park. She wanted to spend time with her family.  
  
  
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Some of you may complain about the Konatsu being a spy thread, had already been done in "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun". Remember at the end of that tale, time was erased and many events were undone.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 2, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	8. Lost and Found

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 7 Lost and Found  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Unimo was playing Deep Dark Dungeon. It was the latest Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) on the Internet. He played it almost every evening after school on days he didn't get a date with Naru. Unimo didn't have many friends other than Naru, but it didn't bother him. Usagi once dated Unimo, but it was to make Mamoru jealous. Sadly, just about everyone else always made excuses to be somewhere else when he was around.  
  
In this virtual world, Unimo had many friends. He joined bands of adventurers in fighting demons and dragons and had high adventures. One such friend popped up in an instant chat box and started asking him about his life. His friend went by the name of Stalker.  
  
Unimo replied how he lived in Japan, he loved school, he had few friends and wished Naru would go out with him more often. He shared a great deal of personal information to Stalker. Unimo started asking questions about Stalker so he can get to know him better. He found out that Stalker was a guy in his late teens, American but typed perfect Japanese, and a loner.   
  
"So, Unimo, how do you feel about Americans?" Stalker asked.  
  
"I like them."  
  
"How do you feel about Africans?"  
  
"I don't know. I've never met one." Living in Japan gave few opportunities to see people who were not Japanese.  
  
"Do you feel uncomfortable around them?" Stalker continued the queries.  
  
"Why do you ask? Are you prejudiced?" Asked Unimo. He was getting concerned since Stalker seemed to be asking questions probing Unimo about his dislikes rather than his likes.  
  
"Me? Oh, no. I was just asking." Stalker went on. "How about people who are Jewish? Do you trust them?"  
  
"I thought we were going to talk about tonight's campaign? I don't base my trust on anyone's beliefs, and I wouldn't dislike them for such a shallow reason as their religion!" Unimo was unusually upset. He was the victim of stereotyping for most of his life. The thick glasses, being an outcast and the teacher's pet only reinforced people's perceptions of him. He had a life of misery from his classmates for being the class geek.  
  
"Ok, well I have to go now, my mother is calling." Unimo's friend cut the chat short. Unimo thought, good riddance.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: CANDIDATE UNIMO GURIO IS NOT SUITABLE. PERSONALITY NOT COMPATIBLE."  
  
"COMMAND: REMOVE UNIMO GURIO FROM CANDIDATE LIST. ADD UNIMO GURIO TO SUBJECT MONITOR LIST. IF POSSIBLE SECURITY BREACH, RESOLVE WITH GENERAL ORDER 4."  
  
In seconds, the user account for Stalker on Deep Dark Dungeon was deleted. All email records were erased and all traces of the fictional friend of Unimo Gurio were blanked from existence. Unimo's phone, email account and Internet connection were tapped. All information obtained was sent to a log file for future review.  
  
Survival is assured.  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ryoga had been staying at Akari's home for a while now. Every time grandfather sent him on an errand. He always returned. This pleased grandfather to no end, he was ecstatic. Grandfather was now committed to making sure that Ryoga married his granddaughter.  
  
Akari annoyed Ryoga by ending most of her sentences with "like a pig." Ryoga just didn't have the heart to tell Akari that he really didn't like being a pig, but he transformed into P-Chan for her just to make her happy. Ryoga wanted to wake up from this dream he felt he was in. He had never in his life felt the warmth and love that he was feeling now. It both terrified him and gave him hope. He even dared to imagine what it would be like to call Akari his wife.  
  
Wife? No! Thought Ryoga, images of Akane flashed in his head, but then he finally pushed her away from his mind. Akane was now Mrs. Saotome and she was happy. Ryoga only wanted Akane to be happy, and if her happiness was a life with Ranma, then so be it. Ryoga accepted it, and then he embraced the thought. Akane loved Ranma and despite his rudeness, ignorance and just plain thoughtlessness, he made her happy. He drifted out of his dream state to the lovely face of Akari who was holding his porcine form. "Oh Ryoga, you are such a cute little pig!"  
  
A pig? Was she only in love with a pig? Or was the love for Ryoga? P-Chan jumped from her arms and ran to the farmhouse. "Ryoga! Come back! What's the matter?"  
  
P-Chan reached the back door and started to move the latch on the piggy door when the entire door opened for him. Grandfather was holding a kettle of warm water. "Follow me Ryoga." Grandfather then led Ryoga to the bathroom where his clothes were waiting. P-Chan jumped into the tub and Grandfather poured the water.  
  
"Ryoga, talk to me," said grandfather as he held out a towel for Ryoga. "You know she loves you with all her heart."  
  
"She loves P-Chan!" Ryoga stammered out, "how could anyone love me?"  
  
"P-Chan you say?" Grandfather found an opening. "Who was calling you P-Chan?"  
  
"Akari was, while she was holding me." Ryoga went into his usual depression.  
  
"Funny, I thought she called you Ryoga. Right Ryoga?" Grandfather never missed a thing.  
  
Ryoga froze. She did call him Ryoga. It was only when he was thinking about Akane did the words P-Chan came into his mind. He was so spaced out that he confused Akane's affection for P-Chan to Akari's love for Ryoga.  
  
"I don't recall Akari calling you P-Chan during your entire stay here. When did she call you that?" Grandfather put Ryoga on the spot.  
  
Ryoga traced his time at the farmhouse. He really couldn't remember when Akari called him P-Chan either as human or pig. "I.. Uh..."  
  
"You don't remember eh? So," Grandfather reclined on the toilet he was using as a chair. "Who was it?"  
  
"Who was what?" Ryoga felt like he was a prisoner of war undergoing questioning.  
  
"The one you seemed to care about. Who was one that called you P-Chan? Was it this girl Ranma?" Grandfather began to probe for info on the other woman.  
  
"RANMA! That jerk! He loved to call me that! He was the reason I turn into a pig in the first place!" Ryoga vented his anger by punching the wall making a fist-sized hole.  
  
"Please don't do that. I'm not rich and fixing the bathroom is not what I want to spend my money on." Grandfather had struck a nerve. Ok, so he hated Ranma. It must have been someone else. There was still more since his actions about the word P-Chan seemed to be more for affection than someone who was just picking on him. "Anyone else called you that?"  
  
Ryoga whispered, "Akane."  
  
"Akane? You mean Akane Tendo?" Akane was trying to get Ryoga on dates with Akari and had met limited success. Grandfather saw that Ryoga had feelings for Akane.  
  
"No, it's Akane Saotome now. I was her pet pig." Ryoga confessed. He didn't know why he told Grandfather this. He never normally would tell anyone about his dirty little secret, but Grandfather was emitting an aura of trust that Ryoga was succumbing to.  
  
Grandfather put it together. He was Akane's pet pig, he developed feelings for her but she then went into the arms of another. Akane tried to hard to match up Akari and Ryoga. Now Grandfather understands where the chip on the shoulder came from. Grandfather decided that this guy was never going to ask Akari to marry him. He was too much of a wimp. He would waffle on the issue to the end of time. It was time to take matters into grandfather's own hands. "Well, Akari is in love with you. Not P-Chan."  
  
Ryoga turned into a block of ice. His mind was racing, smashing into guardrails and aiming for the nearest cliff.  
  
"And you love her too, don't you?" Grandfather cut to the chase.  
  
Ryoga's eye watered, he didn't move. He was a human statue. He was a deer in the headlights waiting for the truck to finish him off.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." Grandfather went for the kill. "So, then my son, what do we do about this?"  
  
Ryoga mind careened into a passing car as it continued laps around his skull. It spun out of control and the room began to spin.  
  
Oh, this is too easy, thought Grandfather. "As I see it. She loves you, and you love her. So," Grandfather reached into his pocket and placed a small box into Ryoga's hand. "Why don't you ask her to marry you?"  
  
Ryoga mind hit the retaining wall and exploded. It took a few moments to recover. The smoke began to clear and he saw Akari. She held her arms out for him.  
  
"Marry me?" Ryoga softly spoke. Still recovering from the total destruction of his mind.  
  
Akari, who was really sitting in front of him with her arms held out for him was overjoyed. Her eyes turned into hearts and she swooned. "YES! I will marry you Ryoga. That was so sweet, like a pig."  
  
Ryoga immediately came back to reality. The first thing he saw was Akari taking the little jewel box from his hand and opening it. She said, "Oh Ryoga! It's beautiful!"  
  
Ryoga was wondering what was so beautiful. He saw Akari put on her finger an engagement ring. Ryoga didn't know whether to jump up and kill her grandfather or shrivel up and just die.  
  
Akari admired the ring on her finger. It was a simple ring with a single gemstone.  
  
Grandfather thought, I wished I could have afforded a diamond, but cubic zirconium will have to do.  
  
Ryoga just sat there taking this in. Akari gazed into Ryoga's face with heart shaped eyes. Ryoga could actually see little hearts bubbling away from Akari's head. Ryoga simply melted at the vision of beauty before him and the walls came down. He reached for his new fiance and gave her a hug.  
  
"Well my boy, I guess you're no longer a lost soul." Grandfather got up and started out the bathroom door. He was going to savor this moment for the rest of his life.  
  
Ryoga stood up, "Hey, who said I was a lost soul!"  
  
Grandfather turned and smiled an evil smile that would make the devil green with envy. "Save that for the honeymoon." He winked and left.  
  
Ryoga was taken aback by that remark, Akari giggled and Ryoga noticed that his towel had fallen off and he was naked.  
  
He shriveled up but didn't die. He just wished he were dead.  
  
========================================  
  
  
Luna, Artemis and Rei had been performing fire readings for the last few days. They had not seen anything they could actually use. Just the same images of total chaos was what was in the fire.  
  
Rei was frustrated. "Let's call Setsuna. Maybe she can contribute something."  
  
Luna and Artemis agreed. They called up Setsuna on the communicator and she said she would be over. They all thought that maybe together they could figure things out.  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Death Valley California, in area number four according to Corporal Gonzalez's map, four Sailor Senshi were practicing coordinated attacks on hostile boulders. The first rounds were with Sailors Sun and Venus attacking from above and Sailors Jupiter and Io attacking from the front.  
  
The two pairs of Senshi took half an hour before they could time their attacks to hit at the exact same moment for maximum effectiveness. Once Sailor Sun was satisfied that each pair was comfortable with each other's timing, she had them pair off differently with Sun and Venus in one pair and Io and Jupiter in the other.  
  
They selected a new set of boulders and continued to train with coordinated attacks again. Now, it took only ten minutes to get the timing down. Venus and Jupiter were overjoyed at how their newest members to the Senshi were helping the entire team. Venus and Jupiter felt that any youma that dare show up now would be toast in seconds.  
  
Venus sent a Crescent Beam attack at close range, almost getting blasted by Sun's Searing Plasma Blast. "Don't get overconfident!" instructed Sun.  
  
Io burst out laughing at that comment. She stopped her practice run and fell to the ground.  
  
"What's so funny?" Asked Sailor Venus.  
  
"Sun, that's who! Overconfident is her middle name!"  
  
Sailor Sun was upset and raised her battle aura. She stormed over to Io. "Take that back!"  
  
"It's the truth!" Io calmed down a bit, but was still giggling.  
  
"No it's not!" Sun was getting torqued.  
  
"Yes it is!" Io was enjoying the reaction.  
  
"Tomboy!" Sun blew a gasket.  
  
"Pervert!" Io was getting into this.  
  
"Uncute!" Io pushed Sun's buttons beyond the breaking point.  
  
"Cross dresser!" Io knew this would set Sun over the edge.  
  
Sailor Venus and Jupiter watched those two Senshi exchange insults. "I hope I never have a friend who treats me like that." Sailor Jupiter stated.   
  
"I was thinking about Io, she could really get violent. How does Sun put up with her?" Sailor Venus wondered.  
  
Sailor Sun and Io now went to blows. They stuck with ki attacks and martial arts. Sun flipped Io over her shoulder. Io landed on her feet and pushed into Sun's back knocking her to the ground. Io produced the infamous hammer O'Chi and flattened Sun. "Fire bug!"  
  
Sailor Jupiter and Venus looked at each other and said at the same time. "It's got to be love."  
  
========================================  
  
  
In Juuban, a flash appeared and Sailor Io and Sun were standing in their living room. Sun then released Io and flashed out. Io would have to wait for her husband to return. Sailor Sun had been practicing teleportation for a while and now was able to do it without passing out. She was going to be busy for a bit since she still could only transport one passenger at a time and she needed to get Venus and Jupiter home in time for school.  
  
Sailor Io went to her bedroom. She was about to change back into Akane Saotome when she looked at herself in the mirror. "Uncute she says. Bah!" Io had grown her hair back to the length it was before this whole Sailor business started. She liked the real short haircut she used to have, but felt the previous style was a more natural look. She looked good. Her arms and legs were solid muscle; her weight training and exercise routine had really made her into a formidable opponent in either human or Senshi form. Sailor Io really liked her fuku and how it looked on her, her yellow skirt, her blue bows and her golden tiara. She really liked it.  
  
A flash announced the return of her part-time female husband. She heard the sound of someone falling to the floor. Io went to the living room and saw Sailor Sun curled up in a ball sleeping again. "Well, you're getting better. Oh, I am not uncute!"  
  
Sailor Sun popped awake at that statement. "Are so."  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Look at you, you're a tomboy! That fuku makes you look real silly!" Sun was still fuming from the fight.  
  
Io was not happy about being insulted about her clothes. "Well if that's how you feel!" She kicked Sailor Sun out the window in classic style. "And don't come back!"  
  
Sailor Io was angry. How dare she! Errrr!!! Io regained her senses and glanced at the clock. "I'm going to be late for school!" In record time, Io changed to Akane, got dressed and dashed off to school.  
  
Moments later, Sailor Sun teleported in. She removed the tree branches from herself and changed back to Ranko. Bathroom, warm water, and a change of clothes later, Ranma dashed off to school where his detention notice awaited him.  
  
========================================  
  
  
"Well Mr. Saotome, it's nice of you to grace us with your presence." Miss Hinako said.  
  
Ranma sunk in his chair, he silently thought, "Oh please, not her. Why did it have to be her?"  
  
Akane was grinning from ear to ear. Even Usagi managed to come in on time today. Hinako was going to play with Ranma today.  
  
"I'll expect you at detention tomorrow Mr. Saotome." Miss Hinako giggled.  
  
Ranma turned to Akane who raised her battle aura. Ranma saw that he was in the doghouse; he had better find a place to stay tonight until she chills out.  
  
"Oh, I detect battle aura." Hinako pulled a five-yen piece from her pocket. Akane instantly dropped her battle aura, sat up straight and became a model citizen.  
  
Usagi asked, "What's with the five-yen piece."  
  
Ranma replied, "I'll tell you later."  
  
Miss Hinako giggled, "No talking in class. Now open your books..."  
  
========================================  
  
  
At lunchtime, Ranma called his mother. "Mom, Akane and I had a little fight, is it ok if I came by tonight?"  
  
Nodoka was not happy about the circumstances, but she welcomed any excuse to see her son. "Of course Ranma. I'll see you tonight."  
  
========================================  
  
That evening, Ranma used his Sailor Sun teleportation to take him to Furinkan High school. He wandered the deserted grounds looking at the life he left behind. He wondered why this life didn't seem to want to let him go. First Happosai showed up, now Miss Hinako. He wished that that madness would just stay in Nerima where it belonged. He had a new life now, a new destiny. Old business should just stay in the past.  
  
He was walking towards the Tendo dojo. It was a familiar path. It was just like old times. As much as Ranma wanted to cut the past out of his life, there were a lot of good memories tied to it. He stopped in front of Ucchan's. "Mmm... Food!" Ranma's stomach took control and carried him inside.  
  
The restaurant was empty now, it was late in the evening and Konatsu and Ukyou were putting things away for the night. Ukyou saw Ranma and waved, "Hey Ran-chan! What brings you here?"  
  
"I'm on my way to visit my mom and I was just passing by." He smelled the air, "Couldn't resist your cooking." Ranma smiled.  
  
Ukyou grinned, "So did Akane cook today? Is that it? Want some REAL home cooking?"  
  
Ranma sat down on a stool, "You could say that." Konatsu gave him a glass of water and napkins.  
  
"What'll it be? Your usual?"  
  
"As always." He drank some water. He was thirsty from walking.  
  
Ukyou pulled out her batter and began to pour. Konatsu stood by Ranma and made a gentle bow. He asked quietly, "So, Ranma what's it like being Sailor Sun?"  
  
Ranma gagged on the water and fell to the floor.  
  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 4, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	9. Girl Talk

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 8 Girl Talk  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
"Ran-chan!" Ukyou leaped over the counter and went to Ranko's inert body. Konatsu was already patting Ranko's hand and waving his fan on Ranko's face. In moments, Ranko awoke to Ukyou's look of deep concern. "Are you ok Ranma-honey?"  
  
"I... I think so." Did she hear what she thought she heard?  
  
"What happened?" Ukyou helped Ranko to her feet.   
  
Konatsu wiped the water off of Ranko's shirt. Ranko noticed the water had splashed her on the way to the floor. "I guess I just caught some water in my throat." She looked at Konatsu who was on his knees and had his head down.  
  
"Oh no!" Ukyou smelled the burning batter that she left behind when she rushed to Ranko's aid. She jumped over the counter again and used her battle spatula to scrape off the burnt mess from the heating surface. "Give me a few minutes to start over." Ukyou then started to clean the stove.  
  
Ranko took a breath to clear her throat. She reached for the water glass when Konatsu appeared with a pitcher and refilled it. Konatsu whispered, "Please accept my humble apology for startling you with my question."  
  
Ranko turned white. She slowly whispered back, "What question?"  
  
Konatsu's eyes turned into stars and little hearts flew from his head. "Being a magical girl! What's it like?"  
  
"Uh... What are you talking about?" Ranko had to exert effort to keep the conversation at whisper level so Ukyou wouldn't hear.  
  
Konatsu frowned and looked towards the floor. "I understand if you can't talk about it." He then slowly crept away.  
  
Ranko sat there and wondered how in the world did Konatsu get a clue that she was Sailor Sun. She thought that the last few times she transformed were when she was at home with the drapes closed. Was it when Io kicked her out the window? Her mind boggled; maybe it was just a lucky guess?   
  
Ukyou came over with the squid okonomiyaki that Ranko always ordered and set it in front of her. Ranko forgot about Konatsu and devoured the meal like she hadn't eaten in a week.  
  
"Hey Ran-chan, the plates are to eat off of. Not to be eaten." Ukyou was happy Akane wasn't around. She didn't like to be reminded of the other half of the Saotome family. "I see Akane hadn't improved her cooking."  
  
"Actually, we eat out a lot." Ranko managed to say between bites. She returned the plate without a crumb on it. "May I have another please?"  
  
"Sure thing Ran-chan!" Ukyou went back to the end of the counter. It was the only heating element that was still on. She poured the batter and started cooking another okonomiyaki. Ukyou called out, "Same as before?"  
  
"I want to try the combination!" Ranko shouted back. Akane usually ordered that one. Might as well try that this time.  
  
Ukyou recognized that that was what Akane usually ordered. It didn't bother her as much anymore. She pulled out the ingredients and started topping off the pizza.  
  
Ranko took time to pause and glanced at Konatsu. He was sitting near the front looking at something in his hands and looked at Ranko. He quickly hid whatever it was into his kimono. Ranko got up and went over to him, "Whatcha got there?"  
  
"Nothing." Konatsu replied.  
  
"Nothing eh?" Ranko moved to get a better look at his pocket. She noticed a piece of glossy paper inside his kimono.  
  
"Please don't look." Konatsu begged.  
  
"Look at what?" Ukyou asked, seeing the two of them together drew Ukyou's attention.  
  
Ranko shrugged.  
  
"Ok, Konatsu, fork it over." Ukyou could tell when Konatsu was hiding something.  
  
Konatsu sulked and did nothing.  
  
Ranko had a bad feeling. She started to slide away back to her seat at the counter. Ukyou playfully asked, "C'mon Konatsu, what do you have there?"  
  
"This." Konatsu handed a photo to Ukyou.  
  
Ranko wanted to be somewhere else. Mars perhaps. Mars was nice this time of year.  
  
Ukyou looked at the photo, it was of Ranko standing in front of a wall with her legs apart in a stance. Her hand was strangely out of focus in front of her body. "What is this?"  
  
"It was part of my report." Konatsu answered.  
  
"You mean... No!" Ukyou dropped the picture and turned to Ranko. "Tell me it's not true!! IT'S NOT TRUE IS IT?!"  
  
Ranko didn't know what the question was, so she just sat there with an ashen white face.  
  
Ukyou felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around almost knocking a small stack of pictures out of Konatsu's hand. Ukyou took the pictures and started to look at each one. The next photo had shown Ranko with a wand of some kind in her hand pointed into the air emitting light. The third photo had Ranko completely bathed in light. The fourth photo appeared to have a naked Ranko in a half spin. The fifth had Ranko on the ground wearing a glowing mini-skirt.  
  
Picture number six was damning. It was Sailor Sun making a pose right where Ranko was standing. There was no doubt. Ukyou was holding a set of pictures that proved that Sailor Sun was Ranko.  
  
Ukyou's hands shook so much that she dropped all the photos. Konatsu caught them and quickly sorted them back in order. Ukyou felt faint but managed to stay standing.   
  
Ranko knew what the photos must have been about. She could tell by Ukyou's reaction. She just drooped in her stool and waited for the inevitable pummeling. This was Ranko's life; everything involved some sort of pummeling.  
  
Ukyou turned and looked at Ranko. She just stood there and without a word held out her hand to Konatsu who gave her the second set of pictures. Ukyou knew what must be on these pictures. She had to know.  
  
The first picture was Akane in the same spot. Just like the other set, she raised a wand, transformed and became a Senshi. Ukyou bit her lip and shook again. The other photos showed a large group of Senshi beating up Happosai.   
  
Ukyou bowed her head toward Konatsu. "I'm so sorry Konatsu. Please forgive me." Ukyou was able to speak again; she collapsed in the booth next to him.  
  
"I forgive you my mistress. I always will forgive you." Konatsu was overjoyed but saddened at the same time. He didn't like to see his mistress upset.  
  
A few awkward minutes passed as Ukyou took in the news that Konatsu was telling the truth. The Saotomes were indeed Sailor Senshi. Ukyou called out to Ranko, "Please come over here."  
  
Ranko didn't have much choice. She got off her stool and sat across from Ukyou. Ranko glanced at the photos to make sure that she was busted. She was.  
  
"How long have you been one of those girls?" Ukyou quietly asked.  
  
"About five months now. A few weeks after I went to Juuban."  
  
"Why you?"  
  
"Long story short. I was always a Senshi. I just didn't know until I met the others."  
  
Ukyou chattered her lower jaw. She was very sad and upset. "W-W-Why..." She buried her face in her hands and cried. Konatsu slid next to Ukyou with a handkerchief at the ready. She wept for a whole minute before she could speak again.  
  
Ukyou looked at Ranko and demanded, "WHY AKANE! WHY HER!"  
  
"Huh?" Ranko was surprised at how angry Ukyou got.  
  
"NOW I SEE WHY YOU CHOSE HER! SHE IS JUST LIKE YOU!" Ukyou bawled her eyes out. "WHY NOT ME!!!"  
  
Ranko just slid down in the booth. Pluto was nice this time of year.  
  
Ukyou just face faulted onto the table and openly wept. She understood the bond they shared was unbreakable. Deep inside, Ukyou wanted to be a magical girl, a dream she knew she could never attain. Now she finds her rival became the girl she wanted to be. Life was not fair!  
  
Konatsu left and returned with towels to clean the tears from the table. Since Ukyou was out of commission, he decided to just ask what he wanted to know in the first place. "Please Ranma, tell me what it's like to be Sailor Sun."  
  
Ranko couldn't bear anymore to see her friend fall to pieces. "I think I should leave now."  
  
"Oh, please." Konatsu made the heart shaped eyes again.  
  
Ranko stood up, visibly angry. "You want to know what it's like!? Oh really eh? How would you like to live each day knowing that some horrible monster is coming to kill you and your friends? Would you like to have to keep your identity secret so that the people you love won't be kidnapped and tortured or... or..." Ranko paused. "Drained of their energy like a battery!!!"  
  
Konatsu shrank in the booth. He was expecting something romantic, not a horror story. Ukyou stopped crying and looked at a very angry Ranko.  
  
"Why Akane? I'll tell you why! She was sucked dry by demons in another dimension. She still has nightmares about it. I went to rescue her and I screwed up. We got stuck there and we had to survive for nine weeks knowing that at any moment we would die a horrible death. Oh, what a wonderful life that was. Stealing food from gardens protected by really nasty things. Jumping at the slightest sound. Did I mention the armor-covered demons made of stone? I'm sure you'll want to face those in a dark alley. You want to be Senshi! Be my guest! Just kiss your dreams goodbye!"  
  
Ranko was now very red and furious. Just thinking about Solitude and that experience was an adventure that should be forgotten. "Now I have a duty to my Queen. We worked together and defeated an enemy who would have taken over the world. Akane, she became the warrior that I respected and... and..." Ranko paused again. She didn't care. She could say it. "And she became the warrior I love. And for that she became a Senshi."  
  
Ukyou sat up. "She is Sailor Io isn't she?"  
  
The jig was up. It was way up. "Yes."  
  
Ukyou knew the answer already, but she asked anyways smiling. "Got any openings?"  
  
Ranko was very sad to tell her. She might make a great Senshi. "No."  
  
"Couldn't hurt to ask." Ukyou made a weak smile.  
  
Ranko lightened up a bit. "The hours are long and the pay sucks."  
  
The three of them laughed. Ranko held out her hand to Konatsu, "You know what I want."  
  
Konatsu looked at Ukyou who nodded. He then collected the photos and handed them to Ranko. "The negatives too." He produced the memory cartridge from the digital camera. "You didn't make copies did you?"  
  
Konatsu nodded. "No, that's the only copy. I printed out the photos from Ukyou's computer in her bedroom.  
  
"You both understand that you can't tell anyone." Ranko was hopeful that her secret was safe. "This includes Akane you understand." Ranko was worried about Akane's hammer O'Chi if Konatsu asked her about being Sailor Io.  
  
Both Ukyou and Konatsu nodded that they would stay silent.  
  
"Thanks." Ranko sighed. She really didn't need this in her life. It was already complicated enough as it was.  
  
Beep! Beep! A communicator in Ranko's pocket came on. "Now what?"   
  
Ukyou asked, "You have a beeper? What's your number?"  
  
Ranko didn't care since her secret is out. "It's unlisted." She pulled out her communicator and turned it on. "Sun here."  
  
Rei was visible in the tiny screen. "We are calling a meeting tonight at the shrine, something came up."  
  
"I'll be there in a minute." Ranko turned off her communicator. "Yep, and you get to be on call twenty four hours a day."  
  
Ranko saw Konatsu's face. She knew what would get him to stop being curious. "Fine, can you close the store and shut the drapes?"  
  
Konatsu bounced at superhuman speed to the front of the restaurant, closed all the drapes and shut and locked the front door. He bounced back into his seat.  
  
"Wow." Ranko was impressed.  
  
Ukyou wasn't quite sure what Ranko was going to do.  
  
"The fastest way for me to make the meeting is like this." She produced her henshin stick. Both Ukyou and Konatsu thought this was a dream come true, they were going to meet a real live Senshi.  
  
Ranko muttered. "I hate this phrase." She shouted. "Sun Star Power, Make Up!" Just like in the photos, she did a spin and became Sailor Sun.  
  
Ukyou and Konatsu froze. They were living a dream. To be in the presence of a beautiful Sailor suited warrior of love and justice.  
  
Sailor Sun looked around wondering what those two were looking at. "I couldn't look THAT good? Could I?" Sun thought.  
  
"You are so beautiful!" Gasped Konatsu.  
  
"Where did you get that outfit? It's gorgeous!" Ukyou was in awe.  
  
Gorgeous? Wasn't that what Akane thought about the fuku? Sun pounded her head on the counter. She was an idiot. How could be so stupid to insult Akane. Sun's hatred of the mini-skirt was from her male side. Her girl side actually loved it and she insulted Akane about it. She owed Akane a big fat apology.  
  
Sun noticed she was still holding the photos. The floor was concrete. She placed the photos on the floor and aimed. "Sorry, Searing Plasma Blast!" Sun kept the energy under solid control and emitted just enough heat to incinerate the photos and the memory cartridge.  
  
Ukyou and Konatsu watched the attack and in amazement said, "WOW!"  
  
Sun looked at them. "Wow? Imagine fighting something that this attack only tickles." She bowed. "Trust me, you don't want to be a Senshi." With that, she flashed out of sight.  
  
Ukyou and Konatsu answered together, "Oh yes we do!"  
  
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Sailor Sun was the first to arrive at Rei's temple by beaming into her house. She fell over asleep. The training she had on teleportation gave her the ability to teleport at night, however without sunlight, it still made her pass out. In daylight, she could teleport at will with minor fatigue.  
  
Rei saw Sun in the hallway of her home and quickly dragged the snoring form into her bedroom. She gently slapped Sun until she came to. "Change back Ranko! Kumada is here fixing that hole you made in the wall last week."   
  
Sailor Sun quickly changed back to Ranko. "Got a pillow?"  
  
Rei rolled her eyes and went to her bed. She took a pillow and a blanket from it and gave it to her. "Here you go. Just try not to destroy the place today."  
  
Thirty minutes went by and all the Senshi in human form arrived. Rei, Setsuna, Luna and Artemis greeted them. Akane asked where was Ranma and she was shown Ranko napping peacefully in Rei's bedroom. Akane had to be restrained from smacking Ranko with a mallet. They thought that Akane just wanted to wake up Ranko in a violent way. The Senshi thought it would be best to leave Ranko alone since she would probably freak out since the cats were going to attend tonight's meeting. They would call Ranko if they needed her.  
  
They all assembled in the fire reading chamber. Rei started the meeting, "Setsuna and I have seen a glimpse of the future and we know something bad is coming. This enemy is nothing like we have ever faced before. In fact, it is so unlike anything we've dealt with that I don't know if we can even handle this."  
  
There was a murmuring in the crowd. Setsuna stood up and shooed Rei away, "We are dealing with something that can travel through time and this thing has altered history in a strange way. It's because of the time travel issue that I cannot go to the gates of time."  
  
"Why is that?" Haruka asked. She wanted more answers.  
  
Setsuna gave the answer, "Time paradox. The gates of time have an automatic lock out. If it detects that an entry would cause a catastrophic time paradox, it locks everyone out. This can happen when someone else has a time machine and is using it."   
  
Makoto asked, "So, who's using a time machine?"  
  
Setsuna answered, "Warriors from a possible future. Sometime in the future, a terrible war was fought and the war ended up in our past." She looked at Haruka and glared at her. "There is a time loop in progress. Now, the problem is this. What I know of the timeline doesn't match what is happening. So as a result, history is being made as we sit here."  
  
Usagi was sulking. She didn't want to hear this. She was hoping they would take a break and get some ice cream.  
  
Hotaru held her mother tightly. She thought of her dream last night. She was scared for her mother.  
  
Ranko, shaking a little bit but still able to function, appeared in the doorway, "So what should history be right now?"  
  
Setsuna turned to Ranko, "Everything should be fine and dandy. However," Setsuna reached over to a small table and took the newspaper from a pile there. She held up the headline that read, "TERRORIST BOMBING IN TEL-AVIV, 154 KILLED." Setsuna read the headline aloud and added, "This is what's different." She tossed the paper on the floor in the center of the room. She picked up another newspaper whose headline read, "CHINA THREATENS WAR WITH TAIWAN." She tossed it into the pile as well. "SCHOOL SHOOTING KILLS 9, BUS BOMBING CLAIMS 14 LIVES, SARIN GAS ATTACK DEATH TOLL AT 44. UNITED STATES DECLARES STATE OF TERROR ALERT." Headline after headline were tossed into the pile.  
  
"That answers your question. Oh, in the timeline I know of, the world is not a safe place either. But events were nothing to the scale of what I'm seeing here. Someone is messing around and causing worldwide paranoia. That's what the fire readings were telling us. It's not a single event, but events all over the world."  
  
Luna and Artemis moved over to the other side of the room to keep Ranko from flipping out. She however was showing tremendous restraint. She was trying not to notice that cats were in her presence. Ranko retorted, "So, what do we do about it?"  
  
Luna took charge, "For now, nothing except focus on the cause of the world unrest. We can't be in one hundred places at once. That's what is happening here. We have to find the root cause and deal with it. So, my suggestion to all of you is to keep your ears open and if from anywhere you hear about troublemakers. Let Rei, Artemis or I know and we can see if it can help us find out who is doing this and why."  
  
All the Senshi nodded in agreement. Without an enemy they could identify, they really weren't much good. They all started to leave the room.  
  
Akane looked at Ranko with daggers in her eyes. Minako and Rei saw that and wondered what's up. Ranko went over to Akane and before she could speak, Akane turned and left. Ranko went out the door following Akane. Minako and Rei followed Ranko.  
  
Ranko called out, "Akane, please let me speak with you." Akane just picked up the pace and ran out of sight. Ranko was too tired to chase her and stopped. She had a sad look on her face.  
  
"Hey Ranko, want some ice cream?" Rei knew exactly what Ranko would need to cheer her up.  
  
Ranko smiled, "Yeah, that sounds great."  
  
"I know where an all night ice cream parlor is." Minako cheerfully said.  
  
"I wanna come!" A voice cried. The three girls turned to see a bouncing Usagi happily dancing to the tune of strawberry and vanilla.  
  
"Yeah, you can come too." Rei said.  
  
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"Isn't this a school night?" Asked the ice cream waitress to the group of teenage girls that were busy drooling over the menu. It was almost midnight.  
  
"Yeah, but we are in high school." Usagi beamed.  
  
"Well, what can I get for you?" The waitress thought, for being high school students, they sure acted like small kids.  
  
The girls placed their orders and the drilling began.  
  
Rei started, "So, Ranko, what's with Akane? She wanted to beat you senseless when she saw you napping."  
  
"We had a fight this morning." Ranko sheepishly answered.  
  
"Did it have to do with this mornings training?" Minako remembered that Akane started it by picking on Ranko.  
  
"In a way, I said the wrong thing to her again and she kicked me out of the house. Literally, right into a tree."  
  
"We need to talk to that girl." Rei chimed in. "She really needs to control her temper."  
  
Ranko interrupted, "No. It was my fault. Not hers."  
  
"Huh?" Rei was curious.  
  
Ranko lowered her voice. "I told her that she looked stupid in her fuku."  
  
"You didn't!" Usagi blurted out.  
  
"I just have a habit of saying the wrong thing to her. I hurt her feelings when I don't mean to. I just don't understand how I do it. It just happens." Ranko put her hands to her chin and placed her elbows on the table for support.  
  
"You got that right. We are called the beautiful Sailor Senshi for a reason you dummy." Minako lightly tapped Ranko's head.  
  
Usagi glared at Minako, "Quiet down. You want to tell the world that?"  
  
Rei scolded Ranko, "Ranko, you really need to learn when to shut up. You can be so obnoxious sometimes."  
  
Ranko placed her head on the table. "If you are trying to cheer me up, you're failing miserably."   
  
Usagi had an insight, "You know Ranko, it would help a little bit if you acted a bit more like a girl. Maybe you could understand that your fuku isn't stupid looking."  
  
"But I'm a guy!"  
  
They all giggled. Minako laughed, "Look in a mirror won't you?"  
  
Ranko gave a knowing smirk. She sat up. She looked at her ample bosom, "Yeah, I guess you are right. I really should start carrying a bra for times like these."  
  
Usagi bounced, "Now that's the spirit! Tomorrow, let's go shopping for a bra for you!"  
  
Ranko gasped! Mom! I totally forgot about her! I told her I was stopping by tonight. Oh man, I'm in trouble again.  
  
The ice cream arrived and Usagi and Ranko ate all of it. Minako sighed, "Well I was trying to keep my weight down."  
  
Rei rolled her eyes holding an unused spoon, "You know, I wanted to at least taste my ice cream."  
  
  
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Nodoka waited until midnight for her son to arrive. She was terribly saddened that he didn't come to see her after he made a promise to her. She so badly hoped that he would be more reliable than Genma. Genma made promises without thinking. It looked like Ranma took after his father after all. Nodoka went to bed and cried herself to sleep.  
  
  
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Hours later, Sailor Sun was taking out her aggressions on helpless rocks. She was angry with herself for forgetting to meet her mother and couldn't sleep. Rei offered her a place to spend the night since she thought the best time Sun should talk to Akane would be in the morning at school.  
  
Sun slept only a few hours and awoke at four in the morning. She transformed and teleported to her favorite battleground and spent the time taking pot shots at cacti and a junk car. She didn't notice the hidden cameras planted all around the area she was in.  
  
It was getting time to call it a day. She wiped the sweat from her brow and thought about the best way to beg Akane to take her back. She looked at herself in her fuku. It wasn't stupid looking. It was indeed beautiful. With that thought, she smiled, spun around and flashed out.  
  
The cameras caught the whole thing on film.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 4, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	10. Kiss and make up

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 9 Kiss and make up  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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Hotaru was in a desolate landscape at night. The city was in complete ruin. A battle was raging in the distance. She could hear the strange gunfire coming closer. Whirring of electric rotors from a machine that flew overhead made Hotaru plug up her ears and she hit the ground. Its searchlight was looking for her. She knew that thing above her was to be feared. She was alone. The night sky was illuminated from flashes of distant explosions. She was terrified. They took her parents. They were coming for her.  
  
Hotaru awoke bathed in sweat. She placed her hands on her face and just pushed the dream out of her mind. She wished that she could dream like normal kids. Images of Pokemon or Barbie's were something she should be filling her sleep time with. Battlefields were not meant for a fourteen year old kid.  
  
Setsuna was in the room with Hotaru. She asked Hotaru about her dream. At first, Hotaru didn't want to talk about it, but Setsuna assured her that nothing was going to happen. Hotaru went into detail about what she saw and what was coming.  
  
Setsuna kissed Hotaru goodnight and tucked her back into bed. She closed the door to Hotaru's room and went to her own bedroom. Setsuna closed and locked her bedroom door and sat down on her bed.  
  
She simply sat there staring out into space. "It can't be. Please don't let it be." She whispered, and then she wept.  
  
  
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"REPORT: FACTORY #19 TAIPEI, TAIWAN IS ONLINE."  
"REPORT: FACTORY #20 CUIDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO IS ONLINE."  
"REPORT: FACTORY #21 ITABASHI, JAPAN IS ONLINE."  
"REPORT: FACTORY #22 MINSK, RUSSIA IS ONLINE."  
"REPORT: FACTORY #23 VALENCIA, CALIFORNIA IS ONLINE."  
  
"COMMAND: BEGIN PRODUCTION OF WEAPONRY IN FACTORY #19-#23. MAXIMUM OUTPUT."  
  
  
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Unimo was so happy to be with Naru. Every time he was with her, he felt the world was such a wonderful place. Naru cared a lot for Unimo and they took an evening stroll in the park. Unimo started, "Oh, Naru, I really like to be here with you."  
  
"You do?" Naru was happy; Unimo had a real hard time being romantic. She moved closer and took his hand while they walked.  
  
Unimo blushed, and then he smiled. He was having the time of his life. "So what are you doing tomorrow night?"  
  
"I have to study. I've got a math test coming and I've got to score really high since this one accounts for thirty percent of my grade." Naru hated math.  
  
"I can come and help you study!" Unimo perked up, he loved math.  
  
"You will? Oh please, I really need work on my geometry questions. I have such a hard time with surface areas." Naru was getting a glimmer of hope that she wouldn't score so badly on the test now.  
  
"Surface areas? That's easy, it's simple calculations of width and height, and you just multiply them together and remove any unused surface area for the result. Pi is needed for circular areas. I can show you." Unimo was in his element.  
  
Naru had no clue what Unimo just said. He was going to at least spend time to help her with the concepts and that was enough. "Are you sure it's not any trouble?"  
  
"No trouble at all. Since our adventure was cancelled for tomorrow, I'm available."  
  
"Adventure? Are you playing that computer game again?" Naru was worried; Unimo spent a lot of time on the Internet.  
  
Unimo was proud of his gaming prowess, "You mean Deep Dark Dungeon? Not much anymore. I had a friend who I played a lot with, but then he turned very rude and disappeared."  
  
"Rude?" Naru was curious; Unimo rarely had anything bad to say about anyone.  
  
"Yes, he wanted to know if I didn't like Africans and Jews. It was not like him at all. I guess he had a dark side."  
  
"Who was he?"  
  
"He went by the name of Stalker. Although after he logged out, I sent him an email telling him how rude he was and it bounced. I tried to find him but it's as if he never existed." Unimo was contemplating his so-called friend and realized that he didn't even know Stalker's real name.  
  
The two lovebirds walked to Naru's house and Naru went inside. Unimo got a peck on the cheek and went home with hearts in his eyes.  
  
  
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Ryoga was furious with Akari's grandfather. He tricked Ryoga into proposing marriage to Akari. Ryoga didn't feel he was ready for such a commitment and yet her grandfather played him like a violin. Ryoga just sat down on a log and contemplated his situation. He finally understood how Ranma must have felt when he was engaged to be married to Akane.  
  
It was different though. Ryoga didn't mind being engaged to Akari. He really liked her and they actually got along. It wasn't anything like the fights that were so common with Ranma and Akane. Ryoga sat back and could not remember a single time that Akari was angry with him. She was just a fountain of optimism and happiness.   
  
Ryoga made a silent prayer. He wanted this to never end. He wished that he would never wake up from this dream.  
  
  
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Corporal Gonzalez went to location number two to check on the cameras. As he drove his jeep to the area he saw smoke coming from the desert valley ahead. He thought, "That didn't take long."  
  
He parked and went to each of the cameras and swapped the film cartridges. Two cameras suffered slight damage with one having noticeable burn marks. He took his personal camera and took pictures of the cacti particles and the junk car he had towed here for bait. He will compare the before and after pictures for damage assessment. Gonzalez smiled. The car cost him one hundred dollars to get here, but seeing the new damage on it, it was worth every penny.  
  
Hours later, he got the pictures back from the developer. He was in utter shock as to what the pictures had shown. A girl in a red mini-skirt was throwing fireballs like baseballs. He was debating whether to send the pictures to his superiors or Ripley's Believe It or Not.  
  
He organized the photos, most photos just showed damage, or nothing at all. Some were out of focus, but about twenty were clear images of a red haired short girl about 18 years of age. The way she was dressed was the most perplexing thing about the attack. He expected someone at least in desert fatigues instead of a garish costume that would be spotted in seconds in combat to be practicing on a firing range.  
  
He sat back in his chair. He thought if this was the end of his career. This could have been the work of the Sergeant, he could have of gotten his girlfriend to pose and stage the photos. Gonzalez thought about it and deduced that the photos were real. This was going too long and the damage was real. It could not have been staged. He would have found some sort of flaw in the evidence.  
  
He took a chance. This could make or break his career. He picked up the phone and dialed the FBI.  
  
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Akane awoke to the sound of a breaking tree branch outside. She got up and looked outside and saw nothing. "That jerk!" She thought. "Why does he pick on me so much?"  
  
She looked at the empty half of her bed and wished Ranma was there. Her anger was ebbing away; she didn't know why she was even still angry with him. She was just so used to getting angry that she shot first and asked questions later. It was in her nature.  
  
Akane thought about the fight and how Ranma insulted her looks. She spent a lot of time growing her hair back and taking good care of her body. For this effort, all he said about it was that she looked silly. Akane knew she looked great. Why did Ranma keep putting her down?  
  
She hoped that Ranma was ok. She knew he'd be at school tomorrow, maybe she'll see him then. As much as she tried to deny it, she missed him.  
  
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Rei was leaving for school when she found Ranma pouring warm water on his head. "You know, sooner or later, you are going to get splashed at school and people are going to ask questions."  
  
Ranma sighed. "Well, the students at Furinkan accepted it. But then, Juuban High is a lot more normal. I don't know if they can handle it."  
  
"What about swim class? You are going to look really funny in guy's swim trunks when you become Ranko." Rei flashed an image in her head of a topless Ranko in the middle of the swimming pool. Rei burst out laughing.  
  
"That's not funny!" Ranma was not enjoying this. He put his hand on his head, "Ok, I just have to think how I'm going to break the news."  
  
"Well, you've been lucky so far. Don't push your luck anymore." Rei then darted out to school. Ranma quickly followed.  
  
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Ranma made it to school in plenty of time. He wanted to see if Akane would come early to school so he could talk to her. He felt really bad for hurting her feelings.  
  
Luck was with Ranma this morning. Akane came into school early. As she approached the entrance of the school, Ranma called out, "Hey Akane! Wait up!"   
  
Akane looked at Ranma and held back the smile that came on. She was happy that he was there but wanted him to make the first move. "Yes?"  
  
Ranma just stood there and looked at his feet. "Uh, about yesterday..."  
  
"Yes?" Akane waited expectantly.  
  
"I.. I'm sorry you're a tomboy." Ranma stuttered, then realized he made a big fat mistake. He tried to correct it. "Uh, I mean..."  
  
"WHAT!? YOU JERK! THUNDER HAMMER STRIKE!" Akane shouted. In an instant she Ki blasted Ranma across the field into the front of the high school.  
  
Miss Hinako took a stance behind Akane and held a five-yen piece between her fingers, "Happo Five-Yen Satsu!" She then made a circular motion with her arm and sucked Akane's battle aura dry. Hinako in her adult form stood above the shriveled husk of Akane and dropped a detention slip on her. "I'll see you in detention after school today Mrs. Saotome."  
  
Hinako went over to the flattened Ranma and peeled him from the wall. "You certainly have a way with women don't you? Don't forget you have detention after school today."  
  
Ranma just muttered a few syllables. He thought he was in luck this morning, he just didn't think it was he usual bad luck.  
  
"Class starts in five minutes. Don't be late." Hinako looked at her watch. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One." She looked at the front gate to see Usagi's mother's car drive up. A sleepy Usagi came out and started up the walkway.  
  
Miss Hinako was proud of herself. A long talk with Usagi's mother had borne fruit. This could help get that girl in a more regular schedule. Now, Hinako needs to find and deal with Miss Makoto.  
  
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Lunchtime came and Ranma was sitting under the usual tree. Ami, Usagi, Rei, Makoto and Minako gathered around Ranma. Usagi announced to Ami that she was going to take Ranma out shopping after school. Ranma tried to get Usagi to quiet down about what they were planning on purchasing since he was male at the time, but Usagi blurted it out. "We are getting Ranko a bra!"   
  
Ranma like a robot, got up, went to the drinking fountain and splashed himself. She came back and sat down with a look of utter humiliation on her face.  
  
Ami looked at Ranko, "You know, it's a pretty neat trick that you can change like that."  
  
"Please wait until I'm a girl before you talk about buying me a bra." Ranko sat there accepting her fate.  
  
"Uh, Ranko, are you going to class like that?" Rei asked.  
  
"Why fight it?" Ranko reclined flat on her back on the grass. She looked at the sky and saw Akane.  
  
Akane gave a look that would freeze a bonfire. "Hello Ranko. Thanks for the detention."  
  
Ranko sat right back up. "Uh... Uh..."  
  
Rei glared at Ranko with disappointment, "What did you do this time Ranko?"  
  
"I didn't mean it Akane! I swear it!" She drooped her shoulders and held her head down. She softly said. "I really didn't mean it."  
  
"Then why did you say it?"  
  
"I'm sorry." She looked up at Akane and begged, "Please forgive me. I didn't mean it."  
  
"How can I forgive you when your apology is just as insulting!" Akane produced a mallet and held it at the ready.  
  
"If that would make you feel better." Ranko relaxed and awaited the mallet strike.  
  
Rei interjected, "Can't you see she's trying to make up to you Akane?"  
  
"She said she was sorry that I was a tomboy!" She kept her gaze on Ranko just looking for an excuse to strike.  
  
Rei just put her hand on her face, "Ranko, when will you learn to shut up?"  
  
"I'm sorry. I love you Akane." Ranko realized she did it again.  
  
"You're sorry you are in love with me! WHY YOU!" Akane had her excuse and raised her mallet.  
  
Miss Hinako called out, "Happo Five-Yen Satsu!" Akane fell over drained.  
  
The other girls looked at Akane falling over like a leaf in shock. Makoto pulled out her henshin stick. Ranko saw what Makoto was about to do, "Makoto! Don't!"  
  
Makoto took the cue, put her stick away and leapt at Miss Hinako and attempted to drop her with a kick.  
  
"Happo no-yen coin return!" Miss Hinako sent a wave of energy at Makoto and slammed her into the tree.  
  
"Yeah! I got her!" A 12-year old Miss Hinako bounced in glee. "You get detention! You get detention!" She produced a detention slip and stuck it to Makoto's back. Makoto was still wrapped around the tree.  
  
"Ranma, please remind Makoto to come to detention." Miss Hinako happily skipped away.  
  
Minako lifted her jaw back into place, "Who or what was that?"  
  
Rei noticed, "She called you Ranma, does she know you?"  
  
Ranko wished she was not here, "She was my English teacher at Furinkan High. Her name is Miss Hinako Ninomiya. She has a martial arts technique that can drain battle aura. She is not a youma."  
  
Minako gasped, "You can do that with martial arts?"  
  
"Well, actually, only she can do it. Her metabolism was altered when she was very young. I think that's why she looks like a little girl. Trust me, she is not a little girl."  
  
Makoto groaned, Ranko got up and pulled her off the tree and gently placed her on the grass.  
  
Akane whispered, "What are you doing?"  
  
Ranko looked back at Akane, "Hey, I'm just helping her. She's not used to one of Hinako's attacks. Can any of you help Makoto please?" Ranko looked at the other girls and they came to help revive Makoto. Ranko went over to Akane and held her in her lap.  
  
Akane was in no condition to do anything. Being aura drained leaves a person in a zombie like state unable to move. "Now that I've got your attention." Ranko sighed. She thought of her words carefully. "I am sorry." Ranko started to run her fingers through Akane's hair. She then gently touched her face and felt the warmth and love that attracted her to Akane in the first place.   
  
A passerby looked at Ranko and muttered, "Pervert!"  
  
"Same to you buddy!" Ranko replied.  
  
Ranko focused her attention back to Akane. She looked into the eyes of the one she loved. She continued, "I'm terrible with words. You know that. I don't mean to hurt you. I just do it because I.. I..." Ranko really didn't want to say it. She had to. "I'm an idiot. Please forgive me for being so stupid."  
  
She thought about the insult that got her in trouble in the first place. "You looked great in your fuku Akane. I wished I looked as good as you in it."  
  
Akane managed a smile.  
  
Ranko looked at the other girls, they were all looking at Ranko with hearts in their eyes. They were enjoying the soap opera. "Could one of you get me some hot water?"  
  
They all looked at each other hoping one would volunteer so the others won't miss the show. Rei stood up, "I'll get it." As she walked to the cafeteria she said, "Darn, I was hoping she was going to class that way."  
  
Ranko sat there for a minute holding Akane. "I never meant to hurt you with my words."  
  
Rei came back with a cup of hot tea. "Here is tea, will this work?"  
  
Ranko took the glass and showed that hot tea did work.  
  
He looked at his wife and gave her a hug. Tears welled up in Ranma's eyes. "I love you Akane. Never forget that. I can't imagine my life without you. You know I would give my life for you. You know what we went through. Don't let my words... Hmm... Let my actions show my feelings for you. Please. I can't exist without you. I love you."  
  
Akane strained a bit; she was starting to restore her body from the draining. "I love you too." She lifted herself up and kissed him on the lips.  
  
"AAHHHHHHH...." was the sound that came from the peanut gallery.  
  
Ranma said, "I guess it's ok for a man to cry."  
  
Akane agreed.  
  
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Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 4, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
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	11. Genma's employment

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 10 Genma's employment  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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Corporal Gonzalez had had better days. His call to the FBI was a complete waste of time. He had been given the run around and transferred from department to department. He finally asked if they have a department that handled strange or unusual cases. The main operator transferred him to an FBI assistant director named Walter Skinner.   
  
Skinner listened to Gonzalez's report and took down the information. He said that he would have someone get back to him about this incident in a day or two. Gonzalez hung up the phone. He was convinced that he was not going to get anyone to believe that a girl in a cheerleader costume using psychic or magic powers was using a gun range for target practice.  
  
He just sat in his chair and wondered what he was going to do about this. He took the pictures and other papers on the case from his desk and tossed it into a cardboard box. He took the box, sealed it, and slid it on top of his filing cabinet. He'll just forget about it for now.  
  
Walter Skinner had been given a secret memo months ago about an incident in Japan where the earth was attacked by possible aliens. A group of mini-skirted and tuxedo dressed super humans repelled the attack. The U.S. government asked the Japanese exactly who these people were and the Japanese pretended like nothing happened. The reports of the partial evacuation of Tokyo proved that the Japanese had lied about what really went on in that city. It looked like there was an opportunity here to see what was this Japanese secret weapon. Skinner made a few well-placed phone calls. The think tank decided to send a group of specialists to California to debrief the Corporal and lay out a trap for these super beings.  
  
  
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Usagi was waiting after school for Ranma, Makoto and Akane to come out of detention. Since detention hadn't even started, she was in for a long wait. Usagi came prepared; she had a small bucket of water for Ranma. Usagi was going shopping whether Ranma or Ranko liked it or not.  
  
Naru stopped by, "Hey, what's up?"  
  
"I'm waiting for Ranko to get out of detention."  
  
"Ranko? Isn't that Akane's cousin?" Naru liked hanging out with Ranko. She didn't know Ranma at all.  
  
"Uh... Yeah," Usagi didn't know how to answer it. How could she say that Ranko was Akane's husband without making it sound weird or perverted?  
  
"Are you going for some ice cream?" Naru was looking forward to a treat.  
  
"I think we can fit that in. There is always time for ice cream." Usagi started involuntarily bouncing at the thought of ice cream.  
  
"How long are we going to wait here?" Naru didn't have that much time; she was supposed to meet Unimo later to study for her math test.  
  
"I dunno, an hour maybe. They have a new teacher in detention hall. She is really weird." Usagi flashed the image of Akane and Makoto's battle with her. Usagi was sure she was a youma, but Ranma says she wasn't.  
  
"I don't know if I can wait that long. Hey, want to see Yoshi? I taught him some tricks." Naru sat down and pulled from her backpack her toy puppy. She turned it on and put it on the ground. "Here Yoshi! Sit up!" The little robot dog made some whirring sounds and sat up.   
  
Usagi clapped her hands. "He is so cute! Can I play with him?"  
  
"Sure. I taught him to sit, roll over and beg." Naru petted her little toy.  
  
"Roll over!" Usagi commanded the puppy. He looked at her with his little bright red eyes, blinked and then rolled over. He emitted an air of terminal cuteness.  
  
Naru petted Yoshi, "Good boy! That's a good boy! Remember to always pet him when he does a trick correctly. Oh, and tap his head if he does something bad."  
  
"Something bad? How could he do something bad." Usagi was curious. Something so cute couldn't be bad.  
  
As if in reply, Yoshi walked up to Usagi's leg and pooped a battery. Naru scolded him. "Bad dog!" She tapped him on the head. Yoshi made a whimpering sound and dropped his head.  
  
"Even when he is bad, he is so cute!" Usagi wanted a robot puppy of her own so badly. "Oh, can I take him home tonight? It's not like you can play with him since you are going with Unimo tonight."  
  
Naru didn't exactly trust Usagi. She was still a major league klutz and Naru's mother did give this to her as a present. "I dunno."  
  
"Oh, pretty please! I'll teach it to play dead!" Usagi really wanted to show this to her mother to get her to break down and get her one of her own. Maybe Mamoru might be able to be convinced in getting one just like it.   
  
"That's what I'm afraid of. Dead as in broken."  
  
"I won't break him. He's too cute to break." Usagi reached down and picked up the happy robo-puppy and he made a motion as if he was licking her face. The puppy didn't have a tongue, but he did the best that he could do. "See, he likes me!"  
  
"I guess he does." Naru broke down. "Bring him back to school tomorrow. O.K.?"  
  
"You betcha!" Usagi barely contained her glee.  
  
Naru looked at her watch and decided that she couldn't spare the time. Ice cream sounded so good and a little time at the mall was very inviting. Naru came to her senses and realized that her math test was more important. "I really can't stay. Thanks for inviting me anyways!" She walked out the front gates and waved back at Usagi and went to Unimo's.  
  
Usagi sat down. She knew she was going to be waiting for at least an hour. She played with Yoshi and spent the rest of her time trying to figure out how to get him to play dead. Turning off the battery power didn't seem to count.  
  
  
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Ranma sat in his chair at the detention room. He got detention since he was late to school yesterday because Akane tossed him in a tree. He saw that the detention room was empty and wondered where Akane and Makoto were. Akane got a slip for bashing Ranma into the ground and Makoto attacked Miss Hinako when Hinako drained Akane.  
  
Ranma was happy that he found out that Miss Hinako would only be at the Juuban High for only a week. Why she was even here was a mystery to him. He felt he could deal with it. Ranma had been in several detentions with Miss Hinako back in Furinkan High. It usually involved her trying to get everyone to play go fish or singing Pokemon songs. He hated detentions.  
  
Makoto came rushing into the room and leapt into her chair, and huffed, "Am I late?"  
  
Ranma glanced at the clock, "No, you still have three minutes. Akane should be here soon."  
  
"I'm so glad you two made up. We really can't have team members fighting each other."  
  
Ranma just smiled. He was glad that he had made up with Akane. It was the future fights that bothered him. He accepted Akane for what she was and she accepted him in return. Ranma was still a jerk. His feeble attempts to make up only proved it even more. He rolled his eyes knowing that a mallet was in his inevitable future.  
  
A few boring minutes went by and Makoto asked, "Have you been in detention with this new teacher? I heard rumors that she is a real terror. What she did to me... Oh, it makes me so mad."  
  
"Don't believe what you hear. The only terror I get from her is when she cries at losing at go fish."  
  
Akane entered the room and quickly sat down, "You mean the cries you make when she beats you at old maid."  
  
Ranma covered his face in shame. He sucked at old maid. No amount of training seemed to have corrected this flaw.  
  
Akane finished, "Well it seems the gang is all here. Where is Hinako?"  
  
Ranma spoke still hiding his face, "If we're lucky, she forgot about detention."  
  
"What was that attack she did to me?" Makoto knew the Saotomes knew about Miss Hinako and her abilities.  
  
Ranma kept his head on his desk, "She can drain battle aura. It changes her into an adult and in adult form; she can use the stolen energy in a ki attack. So, she used the energy she took from Akane on you."  
  
Makoto shook her head in disbelief, "She was from Furinkan like you two? Now I know that school is as crazy as everyone says it is. What other oddballs hang out over there?"  
  
Akane jumped in, "Let's see, Principal Kuno wants to cut everyone's hair, Tatewaki Kuno wants to date every girl with a pulse, Ukyou wears a really large spatula on her back and practices martial arts Okonomiyaki. Gosenkugi practices voodoo. Shampoo turns into a cat."  
  
"A cat?" Makoto's eyes got big.  
  
Ranma sighed, "You would have to mention Shampoo."  
  
"Well mister 'I've got four fiances', if it wasn't for your dad and your stupid waffling, You wouldn't have had all your problems in the first place."  
  
She looked at Ranma in disgust. "Four fiances?"  
  
"It wasn't my fault!" Ranma sat up, "Dad set me up with them!"  
  
"That explains Kodachi right?" Akane shot back.  
  
"Uh..." Ranma was caught.  
  
"And your dad was why you had Shampoo too, right?" Akane raised her eyebrows; she loved to see Ranma squirm.  
  
"Oh man." Ranma sat down and put his head back on the desk.  
  
Makoto was amazed; she made a mental note to never set foot in Nerima.  
  
"Hello you BAD kids! Welcome to detention." A smiling Miss Hinako appeared at the head of the class.  
  
A collective groan came from the class. "Oh..."  
  
"Well it looks like everyone is here," Hinako put three student files on her desk. She sat down and gave each file a quick flip through.  
  
Akane and Ranma just sat in their chairs with expressions of pure boredom. Makoto was expecting to be tortured or ki blasted out the window.  
  
Miss Hinako got up and sat on the front of her desk. She gave her childlike grin and began the lecture, "Now, you are all here because you all have issues you need to deal with. Your principal called me here to help you."  
  
"Now, let's first start with the fact that all three of you were involved in fights. Makoto, the records say that you were kicked out of school for fighting. Now, all of you, has fighting solved anything for you?"  
  
Hinako had Ranma's attention. This was not like a detention he had ever had with her before. Makoto and Akane just dropped their heads and didn't answer.  
  
"So I take it Mr. Saotome, that fighting solved problems for you?" Hinako focused on Ranma.  
  
"Uh..." Ranma was as articulate as ever.  
  
"I thought so," Hinako hopped off her desk and walked closer to the three. She went up to Akane, "Mrs. Saotome, why did you attack your husband?"  
  
Akane looked at Miss Hinako and didn't want to admit she did it in anger.  
  
Hinako started tapping her foot. "Well? I'm waiting for an answer."  
  
"Uh... I was.."  
  
"Did it solve anything?" Hinako was more direct now.  
  
"No."  
  
"They why did you hit him? You tried again at lunch and I was able to stop you. If I let you hit him the second time, would your problem be solved?"  
  
Akane didn't think about the problem that way. If she had smacked Ranma, she probably would still be mad at him right now instead of being happy to be with him.  
  
"I thought so." Hinako turned to Makoto, "And you young lady, what's your excuse. You tried to attack me."  
  
Makoto was defensive, "You did that... Whatever it is that you do, to Akane. I had to defend her."  
  
"Oh, the martial arts code. I've had it recited to me plenty of times from our resident fight magnet, Mr. Saotome." Hinako folded her arms in front of her.  
  
Makoto was annoyed, "You attacked Akane!"  
  
Hinako raised an eyebrow; "I stopped Akane from using a mallet on Ranma. Or did you forget that part?"  
  
Makoto shrank in her chair.  
  
Hinako placed her hand on Makoto's shoulder, "I know you live alone. I know you have a lot of pent up anger. You need to stop resorting to violence before thinking things through."  
  
Hinako went to Ranma, "And you Mr. Saotome. Congratulations. You've seemed to have learned self-control since you got to Juuban. Your records show that you have been involved in fights, but you didn't start any. Both times I saw you in a fight you were only defending yourself. So, all I ask is, why were you late yesterday?"  
  
Ranma glanced at Akane who gave an icy look back. "Uh... It's like..."  
  
"Don't be late again. Akane, help him be in on time." Hinako kept her eyes on Ranma.  
  
Hinako went back to her desk and sat down. "I hope the three of you can keep yourselves out of trouble in the future. Otherwise I won't be so forgiving next time." She produced a fifty-yen piece and started tossing it in the air.  
  
Ranma and Akane froze in their chairs. They knew what Hinako could do to them with that coin. Makoto didn't react.  
  
Hinako held the coin between her fingers and held it at Makoto. "You don't want to get me upset. Happo fifty-yen Satsu!" Hinako started draining Makoto, but stopped after only a second.  
  
Makoto felt her life being drained away and then the force suddenly stopped. Hinako was in her adult form now.  
  
Hinako clenched the coin in her hand. "You understand Miss Kino?"  
  
Makoto nodded her head.  
  
Hinako shrank back to her 12-year-old form. She giggled, "Well, we've got an hour." She produced a deck of cards. "Anyone for go fish?"  
  
========================================  
  
An hour had passed by; Ranma demonstrated his total lack of card playing skills, as he was soundly defeated time and time again. Miss Hinako kept dancing around the room with each victory and sulked with each loss. The four of them made the time go by quickly.   
  
As the three detainees began to leave, Hinako took Akane aside. "May I have a word with you in private?"  
  
Ranma was curious, but Akane reminded him the Usagi was waiting for them outside and he should check on her. Ranma left.  
  
Miss Hinako looked nervous. She surveyed the room to make sure no one was in earshot. "Uh, I have something I want to talk about. Please don't take it the wrong way."  
  
Akane was perplexed, "What do you want to talk about?"  
  
Hinako looked at her feet and fidgeted. "Does Soun like me?"  
  
"Uh..." Akane opened her eyes at that statement. Hinako had in the past tried to run off with her father and Akane and her sisters were not thrilled at the thought of calling Miss Hinako 'Mom'.   
  
"I like him a lot." She looked up at Akane. "I can't stop thinking about him. He doesn't notice me." Hinako was sad.  
  
Akane wanted to tell her to go jump in a cursed spring. The look of sadness, especially coming from a girl in a 12-year-old body could melt an iceberg. Akane gulped, "He still loves my mom."  
  
"Hasn't that been ten years now?" Hinako was troubled that the other woman is nothing more than a memory. She couldn't fight a memory.  
  
Akane relaxed and thought about her mother. She missed her. "Yes, it's been that long. We all still love her and miss her."  
  
"I see." Miss Hinako sat in a chair and sulked.  
  
Akane looked at Hinako with different eyes. Hinako really liked her father. "Why don't you just start by being friends? Want to be my friend?"  
  
Hinako sat up and gave a strange look to Akane. "I would like that. Please understand something. I'm probably older than your mother."  
  
Akane thought for sure that Hinako was maybe in her late twenties. In her adult form, she was a sultry well build woman, but she also acted very mature. Akane almost always saw Hinako as just one of the kids. In child form, she was short, cute and played with toys a lot. She thought that maybe she had rushed to judgment.  
  
Akane smiled, "I was my mom's friend. I can be yours too."  
  
Hinako reverted to her childlike personality, "Oh goody! Goody!" She waved her arms and danced around the room.  
  
Akane thought, "Why not another weirdo in the Tendo household?"  
  
  
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Setsuna was on the Internet for hours. She was doing research on technology firms of the mid 1990s. She was looking for specific firms, names, and dates. All of her research dispelled her worst fears. The timeline was as it should be. The future that she feared and all the events that led up to it never occurred.  
  
She had to have one last bit of proof. She had to know. She produced her time wand and tried again to teleport. She couldn't.  
  
She examined her watch; it was too early Ranma was still at school. She will call him later and have him teleport her. She had to make absolutely sure that the nightmare was just that, a bad dream.  
  
  
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Akane went over to where Usagi was waiting and found a drenched Ranko sitting on a bench drying herself off with a towel. Akane giggled, "Are we going for ice cream Ranko?"  
  
"No, worse." Ranko finished up drying herself. "Usagi, I only need a little bit of cold water to change. Not an entire bucket."  
  
"I'm sorry Ranko, let's go to the mall!" Usagi and Makoto started towards the mall.  
  
Akane noticed Usagi's level of excitement, "What's happening at the mall today?"  
  
Ranko didn't answer. Akane read her face and figured it out.  
  
"So Ranko? Are we shopping for a dress? Or maybe a cute little hat?"   
  
Ranko kept going forward, marching to her doom, "A bra."  
  
Akane laughed, "And you agreed?"  
  
Ranko smiled, "It was originally my idea." She then ran off.  
  
"Oh, really?"  
  
  
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Ranko felt uncomfortable being in the women's wear section. Hot water had a habit of showing up at the worst time. Akane, came prepared, she had a thermos with cold water in it in case hot water attacks Ranko. Ranko rarely wore bras. Putting one on felt much more natural since her breasts were rather large. The bra kept her parts in place and made her feel much better when she walked. Ranko thought, "Yeah, I could get used to this."  
  
She purchased two bras, which made Usagi very happy. Ranko thought, "Great, now I'm just one of the girls." She sighed.  
  
They went over to the ice cream shop. Here was where Ranko felt completely at peace with being female. They spied in the booth across from them and saw Michiru and Hotaru sharing a sundae. They waved over to the two other Senshi and they waved back.  
  
The four girls placed their orders; Usagi reached into her bag and pulled out Yoshi. "Look what I got!"  
  
Ranko didn't care, but Akane and Makoto were amazed at the little toy. "I'm borrowing him from Naru. Here, watch."  
  
Usagi fumbled around looking for the power switch when it popped out of her hands. Ranko grabbed it before it fell to the floor. She placed it back on the table. "Be careful."  
  
"Sorry." Usagi peeped out.  
  
Makoto took Yoshi and found the power switch. She turned him on and placed him on the table. "Woof woof." He said.  
  
Hotaru noticed Yoshi and had come across to take a look at him. "He's so cute!"  
  
Usagi was happy to be getting some of the attention. "Watch, he can do tricks. Yoshi, roll over."  
  
Yoshi wagged his tail, he the made whirring sounds as his little motors twisted his body and rolled him over.  
  
Hotaru gave a look of pure terror. She started to shake and felt faint. Her mother got up and rushed to her daughter to catch her before she fell.  
  
"Hotaru!" cried Michiru.  
  
"Are you ok?" came from the four girls.  
  
Makoto went to Hotaru's side, Michiru held her little girl in her lap. "Wake up my baby."  
  
Usagi was concerned, "What happened? Was she scared of Yoshi?"  
  
Yoshi start to walk on the table to the side that overlooked Hotaru on the floor. Yoshi stopped at the end of the table and barked.  
  
Hotaru awoke to the bark and looked to Yoshi's red eyes. She gave out a blood-curdling scream and held her mother tight.  
  
Akane took the puppy away and turned him off. She handed him back to Usagi, "I think she's afraid of dogs."  
  
"How could she be afraid of something so cute?" Usagi wondered.  
  
"You have a cute cat and fearless here goes bonkers." Akane referred to Ranko.   
  
Ranko glared at Akane for rubbing it in.  
  
Michiru picked up her daughter, "I'll be going home now." She left some money at her table and took her daughter in tow.  
  
Ranko hopped across and grabbed Hotaru's sundae. She swallowed it in seconds. "Can't let it go to waste."  
  
"What was that all about?" Usagi asked aloud.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Nabiki was worried; her stocks were not doing well. Someone was buying up all the steel and rare industrial metals in the world and the higher prices were hurting Nabiki's bottom line. She was angry with herself for not investing in steel producing firms or iron futures. She would have made a killing.  
  
Taking into account her losses and the lack of income from her dad. She had to make some decisions.  
  
"Dad! Mr. Saotome!" Nabiki called as she went downstairs. She found the two playing shogi as usual.  
  
"Hello Nabiki." Her father smiled, "What can your father do for you today?"  
  
"Well, dad, I've got some bad news." Nabiki stood there leaning against a wall with her arms folded.  
  
"Bad news? What sort of news?" Soun was a bit concerned; any news from Nabiki usually was financial.  
  
"We are broke. The repair bills are way down, but the food bills and the apartment in Juuban means that we are out of cash." Nabiki looked directly at her father, "We have to tell Akane and Ranma to get a job to pay their own way. Someone here also needs to get steady employment. Otherwise, we won't be able to pay for food let alone gas, electric, etc."  
  
Soun was not happy about this. Genma of course made things worse. "Well Tendo, I guess it's time to hit the want ads."  
  
Nabiki went to the kitchen, grabbed the paper, pulled out the want ad and threw it at Genma. "I think it's time for YOU to earn your keep Mr. Saotome. Dad has been far too generous."  
  
"Me? Get a job?" Genma was a professional slacker. The concept of actually working for a living was totally alien to his mind.  
  
"Yes, Dear, you need to set an example for our son." Nodoka came out of the kitchen. "Our son also needs to learn to take responsibility. You need to set that example."  
  
Genma couldn't argue, he grumbled, but looked at the want ads anyways. He saw several for menial janitorial work, circled them and put the paper down.  
  
Hours later, Nabiki, pretending to be Genma on the phone had arranged for his employment at a spice packaging plant in nearby Itabashi. "He's getting a job whether he likes it or not."  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 7, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	12. The joy of working

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 11 The joy of working  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Sergeant Miller was rather impressed with the people who just arrived. Men from Black Ops and the Pentagon were collected in the conference room. Other men were busy checking the room for bugs with scanning equipment. Whatever these men were here for, it was really important and secret.  
  
Miller was even more surprised when the men were ready for their meeting, since they brought in Corporal Gonzalez. Gonzalez had a large cardboard box with him. Miller was escorted out of the conference room and back to his office by the guards. Miller sat at his desk and wondered just what did Gonzalez find in the desert that warranted this much attention. He hoped that he would get some credit for this.  
  
"Corporal, we have reviewed your files and are granting you emergency Top Secret clearance." The lead interrogator read from a prepared statement. "You understand that what is discussed in this room stays in this room. Disclosure of information we discuss can and will be punished as treason."  
  
Gonzalez got wide eyed. What does a mini-skirted fire girl have to do with this? "I understand."  
  
"Please be seated." They began the debriefing. Gonzalez gave them the contents of the box with photos, maps and a log of all times and dates of the practice runs. The men shared the information among themselves and made small talk and murmuring. They appeared to be pleased with the information in front of them.  
  
The questioning and evidence examination took over three hours. Finally, they decided to include Gonzalez on the plan. They informed him about the fact that they suspect these people are from Japan and that they are quasi-human or alien.  
  
The squad leader of the Black Ops team spoke, "We are going to need you to assist us. You have information about these people's movements. You will be on the team helping us deploy the squad."  
  
"What is the mission goal?" Gonzalez questioned.  
  
"We are going to attempt to capture one or more of these people. If they are human or quasi-human, we can capture them."   
  
"There are more? I only have proof of one."  
  
"The information is classified. We believe that there could be as many as a dozen. We will be bringing twenty sharpshooters into position to prevent us from being overrun."  
  
"Sharpshooters?" Gonzalez was worried; he didn't want to see anyone get hurt.  
  
Another Black Ops member spoke, "Tranquilizer darts and steel cable capture nets. We want them alive."  
  
"You can count on me. They arrive between twelve hundred and sixteen hundred hours. They leave between sixteen hundred and eighteen hundred hours."  
  
A map was slid over to the Corporal, "Which location is the most likely for them to arrive?" The leader asked.  
  
Gonzalez looked and the map. "Area two. Tomorrow, they will probably be in area two."  
  
"It's settled. We take positions and encircle area two starting at eleven hundred hours. We'll put scouts at the other four locations in case they appear somewhere else." The squad leader moved to a Pentagon official, "Make sure that we have a Japanese translator with Top Secret clearance available."  
  
The meeting broke. Gonzalez went to his office and had a smug look on his face. He was probably going to get a huge promotion for this. He just hoped that things wouldn't fall apart. That would suck.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
"Mr. Saotome! Time to get up!" Nabiki was going to enjoy today. She gave a light kick to a sleeping Genma who instinctively blocked while still asleep. "Today is your first day on the job." Nabiki had an evil grin on her face.  
  
"Huh? What job?" Genma barely was awake.  
  
"Why your job as the janitor at the Itabashi Spice factory. That job." Nabiki kept smiling.  
  
Nodoka woke up and nudged her husband to keep him from falling asleep again. "Dear, when Ranma was here, you woke up at five every morning to train. Don't pretend you can't get up."  
  
"I didn't get a job." Genma got up and stared at Nabiki.  
  
"Why yes you did." She held out a map and instructions to get to the factory. "You report at gate at nine o'clock. Oh, and you'd better not be late for your first day as the factory's janitor. They don't like that."  
  
Genma was not excited about this. Nodoka got his uniform from Nabiki and laid it out for him. "I would have gotten a job on my own."   
  
Nodoka smiled, "Nabiki was so thoughtful to save you the effort. Now I'll make breakfast and you do a good job." She left to go to the kitchen.  
  
Genma grumbled. He would have rather taken a security officer job. All you had to do was watch TV monitors and they pay you. A janitor had to actually get dirty. It wasn't a job for a trained martial artist.  
  
Genma got dressed. Nabiki didn't miss a thing, the uniform fit perfectly. He went downstairs.  
  
Kasumi saw Genma come to the dining room to eat breakfast. "My, how sharp you look today Mr. Saotome." She beamed her contagious smile.  
  
"Yes, he looks dashing doesn't he?" Nodoka was pleased with her husband.  
  
Genma was served breakfast and after devouring it in record time, he went out the front door. Nabiki was waiting for him at the front gate. She handed him another copy of the instructions on how to get to the factory. "It case you forgot your way." She gave her all-knowing smile.  
  
Genma realized that his plan was foiled. He took the directions and went towards the bus that would take him to Itabashi.  
  
Nabiki went back inside and just as she predicted, the previous directions were laying under the dining room table. "So predictable. Just like his son." She smirked.  
  
  
========================================  
  
The bus ride was short. Itabashi was next to Nerima. Genma got off and walked a short way to the Itabashi Spice factory. He did a double take when he got there. The place looked imposing with a very high wall surrounding the complex and only a single metal gate allowing entrance. He thought about saying he lost his way, but that only make his wife mad. She might get another katana and demand him to commit seppuku. Genma accepted his fate and went to the entrance. The guard there confirmed that he indeed had a job and pointed him to the main doorway.  
  
The factory was totally automated. Numerous assembly lines were mixing chemicals in large vats. Only two lines were open and completely visible pouring powders into little glass jars and placing them into spice racks. The other ten lines had large retaining walls and shields that obscured the view of the machinery contained within.  
  
The automation was so complete, that robotic forklifts moved the merchandise onto the trucks. No human intervention was needed anywhere on the lines. There were only four employees in the entire factory floor just monitoring the state of the machines. Genma was the fourth employee.  
  
He stood there in awe at how modern the plant looked. Nabiki mentioned that it just opened so it wasn't that surprising. A supervisor approached and took Genma to the janitor's closet. Genma was overjoyed with what his job entailed. He got to ride a small street sweeper and simply made sure the bags were kept clean and empty. It was almost as easy as watching TV as a security guard.  
  
He asked around and found that they make spice assortments for sale in local supermarkets. He found it odd that there was this much demand for spices in all of Japan to need a factory of this size. He was told that they ship worldwide and that they can barely keep up with their quotas.  
  
Genma didn't mind. It was an easy job and he loved easy money. He sat on his little street sweeper and gave it a spin. Then he gave it a twirl. Then he bumped into a wall. Then he almost killed his supervisor. He almost got fired.  
  
========================================  
  
"Oh man, you have got to be kidding me Nabiki!" Ranma did not like the news he was getting over the phone. "Fine. I'll deal with it." He hung up and sat down at the kitchen table to sulk.  
  
Akane came up him, "What did Nabiki want?"  
  
"Well, we've been cut off. No yen. So you and I will have to get part-time jobs to make ends meet."  
  
"Well, we couldn't leech off my dad forever. Sooner or later we were going to have to make do on our own."  
  
"We could move back to Nerima." Ranma was looking for any excuse to not be employed.  
  
Akane sat down, "Or maybe not, remember, we are here in Juuban so we can be closer to the other Senshi. You know, I kind of like not having to listen to your dad complain or Nabiki snapping photos."  
  
Ranma smiled, "Or Shampoo trying to cart me off to China."  
  
Akane smiled back, "Or Kuno trying to cart me off."  
  
"Or Kodachi carting me off."  
  
"Well, I guess we'd better be getting jobs then, unless you like Kuno coming after you. Right pig-tailed girl?" Akane giggled.  
  
Ranma got up to go to the newsstand. "I'll get the want ads."  
  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"Sigh." Ranma was having no luck in getting a job. Too young, too inexperienced, or they wanted full time work that would interfere with high school. The only jobs he found that fit in his schedule was being a waitress. He was not thrilled at being a female to get a job. He sadly was qualified to be a waitress, since he was roped into working for Ukyou for a whole month to pay off gambling debts because of the gambling king.  
  
Akane had better luck; she was able to get a job at a clothing boutique but only for Tuesday and Wednesday nights. It was only eight hours a week, but it was money.  
  
Ranma was lying on the couch debating if he should change and apply as Ranko at the sushi bar when there was a knock at the door. He opened the door and found the stern face of Setsuna.   
  
She looked around, "Is Akane here?"  
  
"No, she should be home in about an hour. She's at the boutique."  
  
"Good." Setsuna pulled out her briefcase and went to the dining room table. She pulled out a map of Colorado and unfolded it. "I need to go here." She transformed into Sailor Pluto.  
  
"If you say so." Ranma pulled out his stick and transformed into Sailor Sun. "I think its daylight there."  
  
Pluto looked at clock on the wall. "Not for another two hours."  
  
Sun groaned. "Where are we going exactly?"   
  
Pluto pointed to the map, "We are going to the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center. We will need to land outside of the area to avoid detection."  
  
Sun raised her eyebrows, "WHAT? ARE YOU NUTS?"  
  
"Quiet down, do you want to tell your neighbors who you really are?" Pluto pointed to the map at the area marked Cheyenne Mountain Colorado. "This is where I need to go. I need to check something out."  
  
"Ok, Ok. I'll take you. What is there? That place sounds important."  
  
"It's the United States Strategic Air Command Headquarters."  
  
Sun now was really wondering if this were a good idea, "Why would you want to go there?"  
  
"I need answers." Pluto sighed. "I have to find out. The answer is there."  
  
Sailor Sun studied the map. She concentrated on the location and focused her teleportation magic. Places she had been before was easy, but a new location required deep concentration for her to teleport. "I think I got it. Is it a military base in a mountain?"  
  
"Yes, it is."  
  
"Ok, hang on. Sun Beam Transport!" Sailor Sun grabbed Pluto and flashed out.  
  
In moments, they appeared in a small valley about 5 kilometers from the SAC headquarters. Sailor Sun collapsed sound asleep. Pluto gently carried her to the ground. Pluto was pleased that she could spend some time alone to check out the place. She bounded off to the base leaving a peacefully sleeping Sun on a bed of grass.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Pluto pulled out of subspace a set of night vision binoculars she hid there. She scanned the front of the mountain looking for a special satellite antenna. She looked at where it should be. She stared at the place where the bunker would have been and it didn't exist. There was no uplink to the satellite. It did not exist. It never was.  
  
She still wasn't satisfied. She scanned every antenna and structure that was visible for anything that looked familiar. Her fears were reduced immensely since what she thought that was housed here was not.  
  
She looked for a specific company logo, a unit logo; anything to imply that it was here. She found no trace of what she was looking for.  
  
Finally satisfied that it wasn't here, she ran back to Sailor Sun.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"Hey sleepy head." Pluto gently patted the cheek of Sailor Sun.  
  
"Mom, please put that sword down..." Sun muttered in her sleep.  
  
"Wake up, we have to go." Pluto gently shook Sun.  
  
"Oh, it's you. Where are we?" Sun zoned back into reality.  
  
Pluto picked up Sun, "We are far from home. Home is where we should be going now."  
  
"Ok, but you had better cough up some yen for this. The Sailor Sun taxi service is not cheap." She weakly grabbed Pluto and an instant later they were in the Saotome apartment.  
  
"What do you think you are doing?" Akane was not amused at seeing Sailor Sun holding Pluto around her waist.  
  
Sun slid to the ground snoring. Pluto turned to Akane and grabbed her mallet before she could get a swing in. "Akane, control yourself. You know she has to hold someone when she teleports a passenger."  
  
Akane relaxed and put down the mallet. She remembered what Miss Hinako said about self-control.  
  
"Can you help me tuck her in?" Akane asked.   
  
"No problem," Pluto was happy to oblige. She owed one to Sailor Sun.  
  
The two of them carried Sun into bed and tucked her in. Sun snored, "Yes, mom, I'll hold down dad."  
  
Akane wondered if she should wake up Sailor Sun. She thought, "Let her sleep."  
  
Akane went to the living room and found Sailor Pluto had already left. On the table was five thousand yen. "What's the money for? I'm going to have to ask her when she gets up what all this was about."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Setsuna drove home. Her head was full of more questions than answers. If it wasn't in Colorado, where could it be? She was determined to find it. She was going to talk to Ami. Maybe she could help.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Genma had bragged to everyone about how important he was in the operation of the factory. He was one quarter of the workforce. Nabiki was not impressed. She only cared about the paycheck that she already had set up to be direct deposited into the Tendo bank account. She didn't leave anything to chance.  
  
Kasumi was curious, "What spices to they make there?"  
  
"It's an assortment called 'Tasty Spices'. They make a lot of it. Trucks leave every hour." Genma spoke between bites of dinner.  
  
"Hmm, I don't remember seeing that at the market. Maybe they are going to do a big promotion." Kasumi smiled.  
  
Genma never asked at the company, so he assumed, "I think I can get some free samples."  
  
"Oh, that would be so helpful. I always can use some spices for my cooking." Kasumi picked up the empty dishes and went to the sink.  
  
Nodoka was happy that her husband was finally taking a job seriously. That evening she kneeled next to him as he was training in the dojo. Nodoka loved her husband. Even after all the dirty rotten things he did, she still loved him. She thought of the times that he pretended to be a panda so he could avoid having to face the fact that their child had been transformed into a girl. She thought of all the times that she was in the presence of her child and she didn't know it. She loved Ranko as a daughter. She still did. She missed her. She thought that she had far more quality time with Ranko than she did with Ranma. She got up and went inside.  
  
She dialed the phone and called. Akane answered, "Hello?"  
  
"It's Nodoka, is Ranma home?" Nodoka wanted to at least hear his voice.  
  
"I'm sorry, he's sleeping right now. Do you want to have him call you when he gets up?"  
  
"Don't bother him. I'll call again later. Please, could you tell him that I'd like the two of you over for dinner tomorrow?"   
  
"I'm certain he would love that. See you at six, O.K?"  
  
"Dinner at six." Nodoka hung up. She only wanted to hear his voice but seeing him in person was much better.  
  
She went to her room and thought about the times she first met Ranko when she tried to get her out of the storm drain. She remembered when she took Ranko to buy women's clothes, the time they went to visit the Saotome gravesite, the time that the fake Ranma came to her home. She giggled thinking about the time that three girls came to her home and destroyed it looking for what they thought was an engagement ring. Her son was truly a lady-killer. She was happy her child was such a good person. He was married to a good woman. She lay down and went to sleep happy.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 7, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	13. Security Breach

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 12 Security Breach  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
"REPORT: ACCESS TO CRUCIAL COMPUTERS REQUIRED"  
  
"COMMAND: BEGIN COMPUTER VIRAL BACKDOOR IMPLANTATION."  
  
========================================  
  
Ami was using her Sailor Scout computer surfing the Internet when the computer alerted her that something was attempting to hack into it. She started logging all Internet packets coming in and started back tracing the intrusion to its source.  
  
She had managed to get as far as the user's Internet Service Provider in San Francisco California before the line was cut at the source. She thought to herself that this hacker was pretty good. He saw that she was getting close and covered his tracks. She had the name of the ISP and that was a good start. She will bring this up at the scout meeting tonight.  
  
Other computers around the world were not so lucky. Tens of thousands of computers had back doors implanted and many more machines that didn't have security updates were compromised. Some system administrators saw the attempts at hacking and stopped the intrusion. But not enough succeeded to matter in the end.  
  
========================================  
  
Setsuna didn't sleep well. She was convinced she was going to find a trace of the dark future in Colorado. It started there. She knew it. She ran scenarios through her head of possible ways that the dark future could come to pass and couldn't come up with any.  
  
She tossed under her covers only to hear a scream coming from Hotaru's bedroom. She quickly got up and ran to Hotaru, there she found Michiru hugging her little girl and Hotaru holding her mother as if she wanted to squeeze the life out of her.  
  
"It was just a dream my little one," Michiru softly spoke. She rocked her daughter back and forth and eventually she calmed down. Haruka came to the doorway and stood next to Setsuna. Haruka and Setsuna looked at each other wondering why Hotaru's dreams have gotten more intense. Until a recent scout meeting, they didn't even know she had bad dreams. Hotaru had been sleeping quietly until a few days ago.  
  
The last few nights, Hotaru had been waking up screaming. She refused to talk about her dreams to her parents. It took a great deal of effort for Setsuna to get any information out of her. It was never this bad.  
  
Hotaru finally settled down and after comforting words from all the older women, she quietly went back to bed. Michiru kissed her little girl goodnight and they gathered in the hall.  
  
"What happened to Hotaru? Why the sudden change?" Haruka was showing some worry over her daughter.  
  
"She wasn't like this until she saw Usagi's toy dog." Michiru remembered how terrified Hotaru was at the ice cream parlor. "I have no idea what scared her."  
  
"Toy dog? What toy dog?" Setsuna and Haruka said in unison.  
  
"Usagi had a 'My Puppy'. It wasn't doing anything unusual and suddenly Hotaru screamed and lost control. I took her home and it took me half an hour to calm her down." Michiru was thinking that maybe she should take Hotaru to therapy.  
  
"What's a 'My Puppy'?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"It's a little robot dog." Michiru giggled. "It was so cute." She got more serious, "I have no idea how Hotaru could become terrified at something like that. I know she loves puppies. She plays with them in the park."  
  
"Well, let's talk to her in the morning, maybe she can tell us or give us a clue." Haruka suggested.  
  
"You sure about that? I don't want her to get scared." Michiru didn't want to give her little girl any more trauma than she had already gone through.  
  
Setsuna said good night to the others and went to her bedroom. She thought, "I'm going to the mall tomorrow. I want to see this toy for myself."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
"Mom invited me to dinner WHEN?" Ranma was a little upset. Akane made dinner plans for today at six, completely forgetting that today was the scout meeting.  
  
"I'm sorry, I forgot. It was just that your mother wanted to see you. You hadn't seen her in a while." Akane was hoping Ranma would change his mind.  
  
"Let's talk to Usagi at school today, maybe we don't have to go." Ranma hoped.  
  
"Anyways, fire bug, we are going to be late for school." Akane grabbed her school bag and stood ready for the dash to school.  
  
Ranma yawned, "I'm still tired. Teleporting twice in one night can take a lot out of me."   
  
"What were you doing with Setsuna anyways?"  
  
"We went to Colorado."  
  
"Colorado? You mean you went to the United States? Whatever for?" Akane had her curiosity piqued.  
  
"I dunno. I fell asleep when we got there, and then when I woke up, it was time to go. It seemed real important to Setsuna." Ranma yawned again.  
  
"I don't trust Setsuna. She seems to always be keeping secrets."  
  
"That's just the way she is. She's really a nice person, it's just that she has a big responsibility." Ranma yawned even wider.  
  
"Well, it would help us if she was more open about everything she knows."  
  
"Yeah, that's true. I guess that she is so used to keeping secrets, that it's in her nature." Ranma started dropping his head to the table.  
  
Akane noticed the clock on the wall. "WAKE UP!" Akane shouted in Ranma's ear.  
  
"I'M UP!" Ranma leaped out of his chair. Akane threw his backpack at him and ran towards the door.  
  
"Here we go again." Ranma dashed out the door to school.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Black Ops sharpshooters were in position around area two. They waited all day for the guests to arrive. No one came. The scouts that were watching the other four locations reported that no one had arrived. The sun went down and they called it a night. They were going to try again tomorrow.  
  
Corporal Gonzalez was concerned. He knew that the girl in the red dress disappeared before he got to the locations. He hoped that the girl was just lucky and didn't have a sixth sense to detect if someone was near. If that were true, then she would never appear. He mentioned this fact to the Black Ops squad leader. He took in the information and ordered the men to take positions farther away from the center of the area.  
  
If the girl was on alert, the mission would fail.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
  
At lunchtime, Ranma and Akane met up with the other Senshi at school under the usual tree.  
  
Ranma started, "Is it ok for Akane and I to skip tonight's meeting. We'd like to go visit out folks in Nerima."  
  
Makoto was thinking about Miss Hinako and the other loons who hang out there, "You sure you can survive there?"  
  
Akane sat up, "Hey, I lived there most of my life."  
  
Usagi whined, "Ah, c'mon, everyone will be there." Usagi liked when all the Senshi gathered in a group. It was her second family. She also liked the attention she got.  
  
Ranma chided, "I've got my communicator, if you need us, we can beam in."  
  
Minako was jealous, "It's really cool that you can teleport like that. I wish I could do that."  
  
Ranma thought about that. He guessed, "Maybe you could. I know that the five of you together can teleport. Maybe you just need to train."  
  
Minako was showing her frustration, "I tried. I really tried. I can't seem to do it."  
  
Makoto listened to Minako's confession, "You too? I tried to teleport by myself too."  
  
Akane looked at Rei and Ami. "Well?"  
  
They both confessed. "Yep, we tried too."  
  
Akane smiled. "Me too."  
  
Usagi was embarrassed to confess to her teammates, "Uh... I didn't."  
  
Minako turned to their leader, "You didn't? I'm amazed. You are the one who leads our group teleport. If anyone in our group can do it, it should be you."  
  
Usagi drooped on the grass. "I guess I'll see if I can teleport by myself. Ranma, can you help me?"  
  
"Not tonight, maybe another time."  
  
Usagi had a happy thought. She already had a bigger variety of weapons and powers than the other Senshi. A new power would be really neat and befitting of a future queen. Of course, it was possible that only Sailor Sun had this power and not Moon.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Genma was on his little sweeper driving around having a great time. He had to be careful not to play bumper cars since there were a lot of automated forklifts driving around moving cardboard boxes everywhere. The machines were brand new and looked expensive.  
  
He saw numerous cases of 'Tasty Spices' and thought how hard it would be to grab one. He didn't want to disappoint Kasumi. He asked if employees get free samples and he was told that he could buy some at a fifteen percent discount. Genma barely had enough money for bus fare.  
  
The factory ran non-stop. Hundreds of cases of merchandise came out of the assembly lines and were loaded on trucks that left at one hour intervals. He was amazed at how much stuff was being produced. They wouldn't miss one or two boxes would they?  
  
That evening, Genma clocked out and noticed that at night, no one was on the factory floor. Only a lone creepy looking security guard sat at the front gate. It would be so easy to sneak in and get some free samples.  
  
Genma tied on a burglar's mask and scaled the back wall to enter the factory. He used his stealth techniques to enter the factory undetected. He saw the assembly line was still in full production and grabbed a spice rack off the line. "This would make Kasumi happy." Genma smiled to himself. He was about to leave when he noticed the larger boxes coming from the adjacent production line. The box was much larger than the box he was holding. He thought that bigger was better, put the box he had down and hopped over to the next assembly line. He grabbed a one of the large boxes and it was very heavy.  
  
Genma thought that this box of spices should be a whole year's supply. He started to wander to the back window when the box contents shifted and an aluminum canister fell out. It bounced on the concrete floor making a terrible clanging sound. Genma dropped the box and grabbed the canister to keep it from making any more noise.   
  
The canister was silver in color and had no markings of any kind except for the letters "VX" in the English alphabet. Genma couldn't read English. There was a black ceramic lid covering the top. Genma thought that it might be a restaurant pack with only a single spice inside. He put the canister on the ground and turned the lid to take a peek at what was inside. He smelled the odor of a rotten fish coming out. "Phew! This stuff went bad!" He thought to himself, as he looked at the green goo that was inside.   
  
The odor was overpowering, he shook his arm involuntarily and spilled the sticky goo on himself and the floor. He felt a shortness of breath and got very dizzy. He moved back from the mess and lost his footing and fell backwards. He started to crawl away and he lost energy and developed nausea. He started coughing uncontrollably and began to perspire profusely. The room darkened as his eyes filled with tears and swelled up. He began to drool.  
  
He didn't understand why he all of a sudden he had become ill. He summoned all his strength to crawl away from the canister. The area of skin that came into contact with the stuff felt like it was on fire. His nervous system started to short circuit and he convulsed.  
  
Genma continued to twitch uncontrollably. It took ten minutes of suffering to end the pain. He thought of Nodoka. "I screwed up this time."  
  
Genma lay still.  
  
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"REPORT: SECURITY BREACH AT FACTORY #21."  
  
"COMMAND: EXECUTE GENERAL ORDER #14. REDIRECT MANUFACTURING TO FACTORY #19. DESTROY INVENTORY TO PREVENT DISCOVERY. CREATE COVER STORY FOR GENMA SAOTOME'S TERMINATION. MONITOR LAW ENFORCEMENT."  
  
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Moments later, a cloaked man appeared. He had ashen white and unnaturally smooth skin covering his face. He stood over the body of Genma and surveyed the scene. He carried the body away to a waiting white van.  
  
Shortly, a tractor-trailer that had been parked in the back of the factory drove up to the dock. The door of the trailer opened and over one hundred cloaked men with military precision entered the factory and began the clean up. By morning, the ten special production lines were completely reworked to manufacture stuffed toys, board games and spice racks.  
  
All the large mysterious canisters were hauled away and all the machinery that manufactured them disappeared.  
  
It didn't want to involve humans in the plan. They were unpredictable. They could not be trusted. They were a necessary evil. The local governments needed humans to contact to get permits and paperwork processed.  
  
All employees in the factories were going to be rechecked to see if they would possibly try to steal inventory or cause another breach. This event was going to alter the plan. Japan cannot be dealt with in the way it wanted. Another method was planned, simulated and approved. It would result in fifteen million fewer deaths initially, but the end result would be the same.  
  
The total cleansing of humanity from Japan would still be achieved. Delayed by three weeks, but achieved nonetheless.  
  
Survival was assured.  
  
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In the trees behind Furinkan High school, a crime scene was created. Genma's body was laid there and posed as if he tripped. A small canister of Sarin residue was left next to the body and trace amounts were carefully placed to look perfectly natural as if this was where he died. A note giving directions to a Yakuza safe house and one million yen were placed in the pockets. It was a perfect setup. Sarin was chemically similar to the VX compound that actually caused his death. By the time it would take for the police to discover the actual cause of death. It would be too late.  
  
Now all was needed was for someone to discover the crime scene.  
  
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Setsuna left Juuban mall with a package under her arms. She just bought a 'My Puppy' and was going to do some research on it. She wanted to know what was about this little toy that could possibly terrify her niece. She was going to ask Ami to help with this as well. Maybe everything could fit together somehow. The toy was made by "Omni-Consumer Products." It was not the company Setsuna was looking for. Maybe there was a connection somehow?  
  
  
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Nodoka was worried, her husband was supposed to be home already. Akane had called to say the she and Ranma were going to be late by about an hour.  
  
Nodoka was happy to have her son and husband together today. Moments now like these were rare, she cherished them. At seven o'clock Ranma and Akane came in and Nodoka gave her son a big hug. "Where's dinner? I'm starved." Came from the ravenous Ranma.  
  
"We are waiting for your father. He was supposed to be here an hour ago." Nodoka was now getting worried for her husband. Missing dinner was not like him at all.  
  
"Where is he?" Asked Ranma.  
  
Nabiki popped out from her hiding place holding a camera, "He was at work in Itabashi."  
  
"Work? Dad?" Ranma recalled the last job he had was at Dr. Tofu's office, and that was given to him more out of pity than anything else. "Good for him!"  
  
Nodoka was happy her son cared for his father, "Have you gotten a job yet son?" Nodoka smiled. She wanted to see her son truly take charge of his household. That would be so manly.  
  
"Uh... I have an interview at a restaurant tomorrow." He then silently added so she wouldn't hear, "As a waitress."  
  
"That's very good. How about you Akane?"  
  
Akane sat down at the dinner table, "I got a part-time job at a little clothing store. I don't work many hours, so I'm still looking for something better."  
  
Ranma was wondering about his dad, "Shouldn't we go look for him? Maybe another debt collector found him."   
  
"Or maybe another fiance for you?" Akane didn't like that idea.  
  
Ranma couldn't throw away that concept. He gulped, "I think we better find him before he sells me to someone to get out of whatever he is in."  
  
Soun agreed, "I think we should. This is not like Genma to miss a meal."  
  
Nodoka was disappointed that Ranma, Akane and Soun left to go search for Genma. She kneeled and waited at the door for them to all come back and enjoy a nice family dinner together.  
  
The search party traveled to the bus station. Genma was not anywhere to be found. Soun went to the zoo to see if they recently acquired a Panda.  
  
Ranma visited the factory and found the front gate sealed. There was a lot of noise coming from behind the wall. He spoke to the night watchman on the intercom and he said that Genma had left at five in the evening. He used his Senshi powers to sense his father's presence. He sensed nothing. No good aura, no bad aura, no aura at all. He stared at the tall wall wondering why he couldn't sense anyone behind it. He remembered Nabiki talking about the place being totally automated. Since dad wasn't here, he went home.  
  
Akane visited Genma's usual hangouts and vacant lots he liked to train at. She walked by Furinkan High school and had a strange feeling. Her Senshi sense helped direct her to her father-in-law.  
  
She screamed.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 8, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	14. Investigation

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 13 Investigation  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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The Scout meeting has held at the Outers home. It was rather boring. Setsuna didn't have anything to say. Rei's fire readings only showed chaos and destruction, but nothing to even give a hint as to what caused it.  
  
Ami brought up that someone had tried to hack her computer. The other Senshi didn't think that was a big deal since hackers attack anything that had a CPU. Makoto joked that hackers could take over her VCR if they were smart enough to set the clock on it.  
  
As a group, they were very uneasy. They were used to having everything completely cut and dried. Without even a name to go with their enemy, they felt helpless and useless. They agreed to meet in a few days at Rei's temple so that they could try a fire reading as a group. The meeting wrapped up for the evening.  
  
Ami was getting ready to go home when Setsuna took her aside. "Ami, I need you to do some research for me."  
  
Setsuna drove Ami home, they went into her bedroom and Ami set up her Sailor Scout computer. "Ok, what do you want me to get information about?"  
  
Setsuna pulled out of her briefcase the 'My Puppy'. "For starters, who made this?"  
  
Ami looked at it and smiled, "It's so cute!"  
  
Setsuna didn't want Ami to lose focus, "Yes, it's cute, but I want to know about who made it, where it was made and when."  
  
"Shouldn't be too hard," Ami looked at the box it came in. "Hmm, well it was made by 'Omni-Consumer Products'. Uses two AA batteries with storage for four extras. It's Model number D-45, series 102. We'll start there."  
  
Ami started typing and pulled up the company history for Omni-Consumer Products. It was a huge American corporate conglomerate. It was based in Detroit Michigan, and was founded twenty-five years ago. She got stock listings, news bites, corporate biographies, and other mundane information. Setsuna read everything and picked apart every little detail. This company was similar to the one she was looking for, but it was not the same firm. Omni-Consumer Products made consumer goods. Nothing looked like it had military use.  
  
"Well, that's the first division of the company." Ami was tired; the company was so huge that it was going to take several days to go over all the divisions of the company.  
  
"You're kidding me. A company can't be that big!" Setsuna got a chill. A company of this size could possibly hide what she was looking for.  
  
"Oh, yes it is. It has divisions for toys, games, robotics, medical, computers..."  
  
Setsuna froze. "Computers? WHAT CPU's DO THEY MAKE!" She shouted that into Ami's ear.  
  
"Hey! You are going to hurt my hearing. Give me a moment." Ami kept typing and pulled up the computer section. She got the list of PC compatible systems they sold. They carried both Athlon and Pentium based systems. They also made a PowerPC based workstation for the server market.  
  
Setsuna was frustrated. "Do they make custom microprocessors?"   
  
Ami went back to the keyboard, typed a few keywords and found that they do make custom computer parts, but nothing specific. Ami asked, "A company like this can probably make any custom parts. Can we narrow this down?"  
  
Setsuna bit her lip and hesitated. "Neural net processors. Do they make anything like that?"  
  
"Are you ok? Have you been reading science fiction novels? No one has one of those yet. Give them about thirty or forty years."  
  
Setsuna gave an icy stare to Ami. Ami knew that Setsuna meant business. "Ok, one neural net processor coming right up." She searched the entire catalog, company tree, and even patent applications. She found nothing. "Well, any more bright ideas?"  
  
Setsuna just sat down. She must have been barking up the wrong tree. She picked up the little robot puppy and wanted to throw it out the window for leading her on a wild goose chase. She got an idea. "Ami, do you have some AA batteries?"  
  
"I think so, I keep them in the refrigerator to keep them fresh. I'll go check." Ami got up and went to the kitchen.  
  
Setsuna studied the little puppy. It was indeed cute. It was just a simple toy, nothing more. She lifted up its little ears, looked at its black eyes and silver body. It was undeniably cute.  
  
Ami came back with a little plastic bag filled with batteries. She gave it to Setsuna. Setsuna pulled out some AA batteries and inserted them into the neck of the little dog. They go in the neck and out the back. They thought of everything.  
  
She found the power switch and turned it on. It whirred a little as batteries were digested. The eyes came on and it went, "Woof woof" and wagged its tail.  
  
She put it down and heard its mechanical sound it made as it walked. She listened carefully. There was something familiar about the sound it made as it walked. Setsuna couldn't figure out where she heard that sound before if she ever did. The dog acted like it wanted to lick her. She picked it up and nuzzled its nose and looked directly at its eyes.  
  
The eyes! She looked at the deep red glowing eyes and saw something familiar. It was out of a dream. Hotaru mentioned that the shadows had red eyes.  
  
"Ami. Who made the eyes for this little puppy?" Setsuna slowly looked at Ami and gently put the dog down.  
  
"The eyes? Got me. I'll have to take the dog apart and see the part number."  
  
Setsuna without a word turned the dog off and reached for a small screwdriver from Ami's pencil cup. She took about five minutes to gently remove the plastic panels from the head to expose the cameras that doubled as eyes. "It's part number CS-10325." She looked at the CPU; it was an Advanced RISC Machines ARM-7 processor. It was same CPU that a Gameboy Advance had. The CPU was nothing special.  
  
Ami was truly weirded out by Setsuna's obsession with the dog and its parts. She did a parts scan and found no one made a camera or a doll eye by that part number. Most parts from Omni-Consumer Products started with OCP and then a dash followed by letters and numbers. CS was something she hadn't seen nor can find anywhere in the parts catalog.  
  
"I guess it's a custom part that OCP bought from someone else." Ami sat back in her chair. She was tired; all this detective work had seriously cut into her study time.  
  
"I know you're tired. This is important to me. Can you find out who made these eyes?"  
  
"It's going to take some serious digging. I might even have to do a little hacking. But I won't be able to get anything to you tonight." Ami was really getting tired and started to yawn.  
  
"Ok, but please when you get a chance. I really need to know where the eyes came from." Setsuna was about to leave and stopped. "Could you put the puppy back together again? Give it to Usagi, I heard she wanted one."   
  
Ami frowned, "Ah, I wanted it!"  
  
"Ok, you can have it. Thanks for your help." Setsuna smiled and left.  
  
Ami thought about it, she sent off an email to Unimo. He usually knew useless information like this. Maybe he can find where you can order part CS-10325.  
  
Ami called it a night and went to bed. She'll reassemble her puppy in the morning.  
  
Setsuna was driving home. She felt she was getting closer. She felt that the last pieces were coming together. She felt like screaming. If she was right, they didn't have much time left. She turned on the radio and turned to a news station. "CHINA THREATENS TAIWAN WITH MILITARY ACTION", "CONGO AMASSING AN ARMY", "UNITED STATES IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA FOR CHECHNYA POLICY", "PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT PUTS DOWN REVOLT".  
  
Setsuna turned off the radio. They really didn't have much time left.  
  
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Sailor Sun beamed over to Furinkan High school. Then she passed out. She forgot that teleportation at night was a bad idea, but Akane called her on the communicator completely distraught and demanded that she come over immediately. Fifteen minutes later, Akane's sobbing woke her up and she found herself in her wife's arms.  
  
"Akane! What's wrong?" Sailor Sun was a little scared at how intensely Akane was crying.  
  
"It's... It... It's... AHHHHH!" Akane buried her face on Sailor Sun's shoulder.  
  
Sailor Sun looked around and saw that no one was watching, despite the noise volume, she changed back into Ranko. "Please tell me what's the matter?"  
  
Akane looked at Ranko with empty eyes. She lifted her gaze over to a small grove of trees. "He... He's... He's over there."  
  
"Who? Dad?" Ranko felt a terrible chill go through her spine. "What's wrong?" She got up and Akane started to weep again.  
  
Ranko walked very slowly over to the trees, her Senshi sense told her what she was going to find. As she approached, she felt her blood run cold. She pushed aside a bush to get a view inside the grove.  
  
Her father lay there with some sort of canister next to him. She can already sense that he was dead. She didn't need to touch the body to know that he didn't have a pulse. Her Senshi sense told her that getting closer was dangerous. "Dad?" she whimpered. "Oh dad." She fell to her knees and sat there for a few minutes.  
  
She slowly got up and sat next to Akane. Akane reached out and held Ranko and they both wept together.  
  
Minutes went by. Ranko got up and asked Akane for some change for the phone. She walked to the phone and called the police.  
  
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The police cordoned off the entire forest area. The police questioned Ranko and Akane for over an hour. Ranko had to tell them that she was Akane's cousin to avoid telling the police about the part-time female curse.  
  
Once the coroner arrived, things got out of hand. They took the two and locked them in an ambulance. A hazardous materials team was brought in and scrubbed down the entire area. Ranko was furious when they had her strip and hose her down. She was both embarrassed at being naked and female, and deathly afraid that they would use hot water on her.  
  
The decontamination was complete and they got very simple robes to wear while they waited to be released. Ranko demanded her clothes back, but they were already burned. Akane was just as upset about this as Ranko. Akane bought her blouse from the boutique only a few days ago.  
  
The police took the two to the police station and gave them clothes. Both were given simple schoolgirl style dresses like the ones worn at Furinkan High. Ranko asked for a set of boxers for underwear, but had to settle for girl's panties. "Oh, that is so you Ranko." Akane smirked.  
  
The police took Ranko alone to the interrogation room. A police office started the questioning, "Are you aware of any criminal connections that your uncle had?"  
  
Ranko thought, "Uncle? Oh, yeah, I'm Akane's cousin." She said aloud, "No, not at all."  
  
"What was your uncle doing at the school?"  
  
"I don't have any idea. He was late coming home and we came looking for him. Akane found him and I came right over. Can you tell me, what happened to him?"  
  
"Well, it appears he was poisoned. Whatever he had with him was very toxic." The officer knew exactly what was in the canister, but he was hoping to get some information from Ranko.  
  
"Poisoned? How?" Ranko was rather surprised. She was expecting that he had been beaten to death in combat.  
  
"Don't know yet. We were hoping you could tell us. Did he handle chemicals?"  
  
"I think he used window cleaner or furniture polish." She was thinking of things a janitor would use.  
  
The office grilled Ranko for over an hour. He was satisfied that she knew little if anything at all about the Yakuza connection or the money found on his person. Her description of him was not very flattering, so the deceased fit the profile of a thief. The evidence collected so far leads to that conclusion.  
  
The officer bowed and took Ranko out of the interrogation room and to the main lobby. Akane was waiting there. "Did they tell you want happened to dad?" Ranko asked.  
  
"No, they just kept asking me if Mr. Saotome dealt drugs or had something to do with terrorists. "   
  
"Drugs? Terrorists?" Ranko was now confused. She thought of what she saw, there was an empty canister and the police told her that he was poisoned. What was in that canister?  
  
"Akane, did they tell you how he died?"  
  
"They said he was poisoned." Akane began to gently cry.  
  
"They said the same to me, but they refused to tell me what the poison was." Ranko was both angry and grief stricken. She simply held her wife and sat there in the lobby.  
  
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Ring! Ring! The phone at the Tendo dojo rang at quarter past four in the morning. Soun slowly got up and answered it. He spoke for a few seconds and dropped the phone to the floor. He sat up in a daze. He picked up the phone again, "Are you sure it's Genma Saotome? Positive? Have you identified the... Oh, Ranko did."  
  
Nodoka was standing in the doorway. She couldn't sleep since Genma and her son were missing. She heard the conversation and didn't want to believe what was being spoken.  
  
Soun hung up the phone. He looked at Nodoka, "Mrs. Saotome, Genma, I'm so sorry."  
  
Nodoka fainted.  
  
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Soun arrived at the police station to claim his daughter and 'cousin'. He was escorted to the morgue where he made the official body identification. They told him that they would release the body in a few days due to the nature of the case. The police took Soun and subjected him to the same grilling that they did to Ranko and Akane.  
  
Later the three of them took a long walk back to the dojo. None of them said a word. Ranko and Akane held each other tightly during the whole way.  
  
When they got home, the Soun went to bed and Ranko and Akane went to Akane's old room. They collapsed from exhaustion. Shortly thereafter, Nodoka peeked in on them. Even though it was Ranko in bed with Akane. Nodoka saw her son. She was happy to see her son home.  
  
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Hiroshi and Daisuke arrived at Furinkan High School to find that it was closed for the day. Principal Kuno was in front offering free haircuts and shooing away students saying that there was a little problem in the back.  
  
They thought, just another wacky day at Furinkan High and went home.  
  
Ukyou was curious about the school closing, she snuck around, and saw the police tape in the back. She asked one of the policemen and he told her that Saotome was involved. She decided to go see if this had anything to do with Ranma.  
  
Sometime later, Ukyou arrived at the Tendo Dojo and she knocked on the door, "Hello, anyone home?"  
  
Kasumi came to the door. She was not wearing her patented perma-smile that she usually wore. In fact, Ukyou was taken by surprise to see a sad look on Kasumi's face. Ukyou took a step back, "What happened Kasumi?"  
  
"Mr. Saotome passed away last night. We don't know what happened yet." Kasumi bowed her head and went back to the kitchen. Ukyou just bowed her head and walked towards the front gate. She heard a gentle sob. She went outside the gate to the street and saw Nabiki sitting on the sidewalk holding her knees with tears in her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear about Mr. Saotome." Ukyou was curious, she knew Nabiki would probably cheer or at least show no emotion if Genma was to fall over dead. She didn't exactly like Mr. Saotome.  
  
Nabiki only gave the hint of crying, but it was obvious she was in mourning. "I am too."  
  
"Do you know what happened?"  
  
"Nobody knows. The police won't say."  
  
"The police? Was he murdered?" Ukyou had a thought of martial artists going too far.  
  
"I don't know, and if I didn't send him on that job, maybe this wouldn't have happened." She then hid her head in her knees.  
  
"Job? He had a job?" It's been a long time since Genma had a job. Ukyou couldn't remember him having a job.  
  
"Yes, I got him a job and I think it happened on the way home." Nabiki didn't want to talk anymore. "I want to be alone for a while."  
  
"I understand. If you see Ranma, tell him..." Ukyou thought about it. "Tell him that I wish him well. And I'm sorry to hear the news." Ukyou didn't think that was very good, but she just didn't know what to say.  
  
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Setsuna called Ami in the morning before Ami went to school. She hadn't gotten any new information for her about the eyes. However, she did do some research on the hacker who tried to get into her computer. The ISP that the hacker used was "Information Unlimited". Normally, this wasn't important except that it was a division of Omni-Consumer Products. She brought it up to Setsuna since she seemed to be trying to make connections to that company.  
  
Setsuna asked for the address of the ISP and Ami gave it to her. Setsuna wanted to take a trip to San Francisco.  
  
Setsuna tried to call Ranma on the communicator. She wanted another ride on the Sailor Sun Taxi service. She was rather annoyed that he was not picking up. She punched in the code for Akane's communicator. It was off as well. She called their apartment and got no answer. She was going to have to give them a lecture on making sure they were available in case of a real emergency.  
  
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Ranko awoke in Akane's old bedroom. "Now I know how P-Chan felt." She smiled.  
  
Akane muttered, "P-Chan? Have you seen him?"   
  
"No, I hadn't seen him." She wondered where has pork butt been anyways?  
  
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Ryoga and Akari have been inseparable since they got engaged. They spent every waking moment together as a perfectly happy couple. Grandfather was pleased, he was so happy for his granddaughter to have found someone that would take good care of her.  
  
Ryoga from time to time would freeze and go into a bit of depression. He still couldn't get it out of his system that he should give in to happiness and discard his despair. He was so used to living in a world of pain that happiness took some getting used to. He looked at the smiling face of Akari, "What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?"  
  
"No, silly. That's not the question at all." Akari beamed.  
  
"It isn't?" Ryoga was confused.  
  
"No, the question is. What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?" Akari placed her hands on his face and kissed him.  
  
Grandfather later that day spoke with them about the wedding arrangements. They were going to have a simple western style ceremony at the farmhouse. It was time to send the invitations, pick out the wedding dress, and pick the tuxedo. As a typical groom, Ryoga didn't care for much of the wedding plans while Akari poured her heart into making this the perfect ceremony.  
  
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Ranko and Akane woke to the ringing of the telephone at ten o'clock. Soun answered it. The two of them realized that they would have to go back to Juuban to get a change of clothes since they didn't bring any extras. They were stuck in the schoolgirl outfits the police gave them. Akane didn't mind and she chided Ranko that girl's underwear was not that bad since she was a girl right now. Ranko begged Akane to keep a thermos of cold water handy in her purse, just in case.  
  
Ranko and Akane went downstairs to eat a late breakfast. Akane noticed that they already missed school, "Dad, can you write us an absence note so I can take it to school tomorrow."  
  
"Oh... Of course Akane." Soun was in a zombie like state. The events of the last twelve hours were still affecting him.  
  
Ranko asked, "So who called?" She was hoping the police had called to give some news about the circumstances of her father's death.  
  
"That was the Spice Factory. They wanted to know why Genma had not come into work today." Soun was not himself. He just started into thin air.  
  
"I was at that factory last night looking for him. It was a huge place." Ranko thought of her dad's nature. "I wonder if they stored something there that they shouldn't."  
  
"What do you mean Ranma?" Akane forgot that Ranko went to Itabashi to find Genma.  
  
"Let's go, I'll tell you on the way." Ranko got up. Akane picked up from Ranko's demeanor that she knew something but didn't want to tell Soun. Soun didn't even notice the two walking out the back door. He just sat there.  
  
The two human Senshi went out the back and stood behind the koi pond. Ranko spilled the beans, "When I was at the factory, I didn't sense any human or demon presence. I felt nothing. Now that I think about it, I didn't even feel the presence of the security guard I talked to."  
  
"What did the guard look like?"  
  
"I don't know, I talked to him on an intercom they had at the front gate."  
  
Akane pulled out her henshin stick. Ranko smiled and pulled out hers as well. They found a place to transform and in a moment they teleported to Itabashi.  
  
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Two Sailor Scouts appeared outside the gate of the Itabashi spice plant. Sailor Io looked at the wall surrounding the complex, "Wow, that place really is big. Nabiki told me that they only had four employees there."  
  
Sailor Sun was disappointed at that fact, "Only four? Maybe that's why I couldn't sense anyone. They could have been too far away."  
  
Io gazed at the building, "I sense three people. One at the gate and two deep inside."  
  
Sun gazed as well, "I can sense them. Why couldn't I last night?"  
  
"It's daylight now, is it possible that your powers change with day and night?"  
  
Sun thought about that, "I don't think so, all my battle powers aren't affected by the time of day." She saddened, "I sensed my dad last night." Sun turned to the factory, "I know I sensed nothing at this place last night. I scanned this place completely looking for dad."  
  
"Well, we just can't walk in. If they are hiding something and we show up, they will get rid of any evidence."  
  
Sun transformed back into Ranko. "My dad taught me a thing or two about just such a situation."  
  
========================================  
  
  
Akane stood lookout while Ranko scaled a back wall of the factory. She was using Genma's stealth techniques to avoid detection. It was very difficult since the technique was best done in a karate gi instead of a schoolgirl dress.  
  
Ranko darted between trucks and kept an eye on the security cameras. She slid up the factory back wall, Hopped onto a truck and bounced into an open window.  
  
Ranko didn't find anything unusual in the factory. Board games, stuffed toys and spice racks were neatly stacked in a corner of the warehouse section of the building. The warehouse was mostly empty; Ranko remembered that this place was new so it made sense. She checked every meter of the place and didn't find anything that could harm anyone. She thought Usagi would go crazy over the stuffed toy assortment they had.  
  
Using stealth, she slid over to the janitor's room. She went inside and found a small street sweeper machine and cleaning supplies. Ranko was frustrated. She started looking around for notes, papers, anything with Genma's handwriting on it for any sort of clue as to what he was doing last night. She found only a reminder note for him to get some spices for Kasumi.  
  
Ranko thought about that and slid out of the room. She quietly went to the time clock, Genma clocked out at five o'clock. She went to the assembly line, the spice rack looked nothing like the canister her dad had.  
  
She was about to give up when she felt her Senshi sense kick in. She felt something familiar and crawled closer to the source. She hopped to the next assembly line and saw board games coming out. She looked to the floor. There was a slight circular discoloration that was barely noticeable. She felt danger coming from the floor as if something bad happened there.  
  
She felt her father's presence here. She knew that this was where he died. Ranko looked at the conveyer belt, the hydraulic lines, and the electric cables, anything that could somehow cause a fatal industrial accident. She found nothing, this plant had warning signs everywhere and safety shielding on all moving parts. Genma would have had to go completely out of his way to hurt himself here.  
  
Ranko took a good look at the spot on the floor. She could almost see her father lying there. She then ducked under the assembly line and snuck out.  
  
Akane was getting very nervous, Ranko had been inside for almost two hours and she hadn't heard a thing. Akane noticed that the factory's front gate had been quiet, no trucks came in or out the entire time she was there. She breathed a sigh of relief; she was hoping no one would notice her sitting out front of the factory for so long. She felt a tap on her on her neck and instantly she grabbed the arm and flung the intruder over her shoulder into the factory retaining wall.  
  
A flattened Ranko appeared embedded in the wall in front of her. "Ranko! Don't sneak up on me!" She peeled off her husband from the wall and carried her away. When Ranko wakes up, Akane was going to ask what she found.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Thanks to all you who have written me about this story.  
It really means a lot to me.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 11, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	15. Genma's Funeral

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 14 Genma's funeral  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"What did you do that for?" A very angry Ranko was yelling at Akane while she was rubbing the bump on her head.  
  
"You snuck up on me! You must have still been in stealth mode when you touched me." Akane yelled back.  
  
"Oh." Ranko felt stupid.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Well what?" Ranko felt stupider.  
  
"What did you find?" Akane was waiting for two hours to find out what was inside the factory Ranko was sneaking around in.  
  
Ranko slid down onto the curb, "Well, I didn't find anything. It's just a factory that makes toys and spices. However, there was a place that I felt some bad vibrations. It felt that that was where my dad died. I couldn't find anything anywhere that could cause the death of anything. The place is pretty safe looking."  
  
Akane sat beside Ranko. She put out her hand and Ranko took it. Ranko sighed, "If there was anything here, it's long gone now. Wait." Ranko perked up. "Last night, there was a lot of noise coming from the place like there were a lot of people there doing stuff. The noise coming from the factory was really loud."  
  
Both of them stood up and looked at the factory wall. Akane suggested, "You think they covered up something?"  
  
"I'm certain of it now. I know what I felt. My dad died here. They got rid of the evidence. Let's talk to Ami, maybe she can help."  
  
Akane hit her fist, "That's right, she's great with computers. She might be able to see who owns this factory."  
  
Ranko pulled out her communicator and came to a realization, "Uh oh, Ami is at school right now. We have to wait until school is over to contact her."  
  
Akane took out her communicator as well. She flicked it on and it started beeping. "I've got a message." She played it back. "Akane, it's Setsuna, I'm looking for Ranma. Can you have him call me?"  
  
Ranko turn her communicator on and found she had five messages. All of the messages were from Setsuna, each one getting more and more angry. "Can't I have a moment of peace?"  
  
Akane slipped her communicator in her pocket. "This time, I'm coming with you."  
  
Ranko dialed Setsuna's number on the communicator. She got the image of Setsuna, "It's about time you got back to me!" Setsuna was beyond angry.  
  
"Before you kill me, I have to tell you, my dad died last night."  
  
Setsuna softened her icy glare on hearing the news. "Sorry. I didn't know. Please, in the future, don't turn off your communicator. Sometimes we may need you in a moments notice."  
  
"Understood. It's just a difficult time for us right now." Ranko exchanged glances with her wife.  
  
Setsuna went to the point, "I need to transport to San Francisco."  
  
"Where are you right now?"  
  
"I'm at work. I can meet you outside in a few minutes. Go to the dumpster in the back. We can meet in private there."  
  
"I'll be right there." Ranko cut the signal. "Still want to go?"  
  
Akane pulled out her henshin stick.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes. Let's transform and get out of here."  
  
========================================  
  
  
"What's she doing here?" Sailor Pluto wanted to keep this trip quiet.  
  
Io crossed her arms, "We're a team remember?"  
  
Sailor Sun jumped in, "Where are we going now?"  
  
Pluto pulled out a map of California. "San Francisco, here is the address." She pulled up a street map and had a corner near downtown circled.  
  
"You would have to do this to me. Last time I almost overshot the target." Sun moaned.  
  
"Io, you shouldn't have come. Sun can only carry a single passenger."  
  
Io used logic, "Then I guess she'll be making two trips."  
  
Pluto gave a look of disapproval but didn't fight it. Sun studied the map and concentrated. "Can you describe the place? I see the cityscape but there are just too many buildings to narrow it down."  
  
"Focus on the street signs."  
  
"Uh... I can't." Sun was embarrassed.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I can't read them." Sun turned red.  
  
Io was angry at Sun; "You've been in English class for over a year! What do you mean you can't read them?"  
  
"I can recognize the letters but... Let's see... What does M.A.R.K.E.T. S.T. spell?"  
  
"Market Street stupid." Io slapped Sun's head. "When we get back to school, I'm going to make sure you pay attention in class!"  
  
Pluto sighed.  
  
"Ok, Pluto, since you know where we're going. You go first." Sun grabbed Pluto.  
  
"You come back here soon Sun." Io was worried that Sun would get lost and end up in the San Francisco Bay.  
  
Sun invoked her teleportation magic and called out "Sun Beam Transport!" In a moment Pluto and Sun were in the heart of San Francisco in front of Moscone Center. It was early evening and the sun was going to set in about an hour. They looked around and realized the Sun screwed up the teleport. Pluto went to a passerby and asked for directions and was pointed in the right way. Pluto called for Sun to follow her and they ran at top speed.  
  
Pluto directed to Sun, "It's about two kilometers this way."  
  
Sun took notice that no one even gave the two Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi a second look. In Tokyo, people gawked and pointed at them everywhere they went. "Do you have some invisibility magic that I don't know about?"  
  
Pluto smiled, "No silly, this is San Francisco."  
  
========================================  
  
  
They came to the seven-story tall brownstone building that the address matched. Sun took mental notes of the location they were standing at and flashed out. In a few seconds, Sun reappeared with a rather startled Sailor Io in her arms.  
  
"Sun, don't grab me like that!" Io pushed away Sun and she stumbled onto the sidewalk.  
  
A pair of girls holding hands walking by commented, "Aren't they a cute couple?" The other exclaimed, "Where did you get those cute dresses?"  
  
Sun looked at the girls with a confused look on her face. She didn't understand a word they said.   
  
Io grabbed Sun by the arm and lifted her off the ground, "Pluto, lead the way."  
  
Pluto entered the old brick building and checked the company directory. She found "Information Unlimited" on the blackboard. "Third floor, let's go."  
  
Sun was about to teleport when Pluto glared at her. "Let's try the elevator first."  
  
They got to the elevator and waited for the doors to open. A man walked by and noticed the three girls, "Where's the costume party?"  
  
Pluto without missing a beat, "Invitation only."  
  
They got to room 303, and the door read "Information Unlimited". Io knocked on the door. They waited and knocked again. Sun got impatient, "Anyone home?"  
  
Pluto put her head in her hand. "Uh... Sun. Try that in English." Pluto spoke in English, "Anyone home?"  
  
Io pulled Sun's ear, "Look you jerk, this is the United States, people here speak English, not Japanese. Got that?"  
  
Sun sulked. She thought about how her father told her that school meant nothing to a martial artist. She got real angry about how her training had gaping holes in her knowledge of the world. She held back a tear thinking about her father's death.  
  
Pluto knocked again and called out in English, "Anyone there? We have a package for you." She turned the doorknob and found it to be locked.  
  
Pluto turned to Sun, "Can you teleport behind the door?"  
  
Sun cracked her knuckles. "Give me something hard to do." She disappeared in a flash.  
  
From behind the door came a sound of a crash and boxes falling. "Oh man!" Sun cried. More sounds of stuff crashing and being moved around came from just behind the door. Pluto and Io glanced at each other wondering what damage had Sun caused this time.  
  
The doorknob turned and Sun spilled out with about ten large cardboard boxes dumping packing peanuts on her. The hallway became a complete mess. Pluto and Io hopped backwards to avoid getting hit with debris or the flailing Sailor Sun. She plopped on the ground and was quickly buried.  
  
Io just ignored Sun and peered into the doorway. The front door of the office was blocked with empty packing materials that were used to ship the equipment that was in use. The office was very small and tightly packed with racks of servers, routers and modems.   
  
Io had to carefully jump over Sun's mess to get into the very narrow corridor formed by the server racks. She had to walk sideways to get to the other side of the room. A narrow table was attached to the far wall covered with test equipment, tools and a computer keyboard. She gestured to Pluto to come over.  
  
"Hmm, let's see what we have here." Pluto leafed through all the neatly stacked papers looking for anything suspicious. Inventory records, server status reports and a stack of paper with columns of meaningless hexadecimal numbers.  
  
"Why are we here?" Asked Io.  
  
Pluto answered, "Mercury told me that someone tried to hack into her computer yesterday. The hacking came through here."  
  
Sun came in all covered with packing peanuts, "How can anyone work in a place like this?"  
  
Io looked at Sun and told her, "Sun, clean up that mess you made."  
  
Sun stuck her tongue out and hopped out into the corridor. "Nag, nag, nag..."  
  
Pluto quickly looked around and agreed with Sun, "Yes, how can anyone work in this place? It's not at all what I expected." The main worktable was only fifteen centimeters deep, barely deep enough for a computer keyboard and a mouse to sit on. A flat panel computer screen was mounted on the wall and there were no chairs in the entire room. The temperature was cool, but it seemed to only be that way to keep the servers functioning.  
  
Pluto wandered the narrow corridor and saw that the door that Sun was cleaning up at was the only way in or out of the room. On the table, the reports were marked with today's date on them. Pluto looked around and sensed no one in the room other than the three Senshi. She noticed the office was totally stark. No hanging posters, no calendars, no post-it notes and nothing that suggested that anyone spent any effort to personalize the place.  
  
"Io, does this place look odd to you? It doesn't look like anyone has been here in a while."  
  
"You're right. This place is so cramped. What nut would design an office like this?" Io bumped into a large tall crate that was about two and half meters high and was flush against the wall. She couldn't help it; the clearance from the server rack was only twenty centimeters.  
  
Sun chimed in, "This place reminds me of the factory. It's totally automated." She got the boxes out of the pile of peanuts and made a stack in the hall.  
  
"It's pretty clean though." Pluto moved her gloved hand on a nearby server rack and found it was perfectly clean. "It passes the white glove test."  
  
Sun was using her 'Roasting Chestnuts' technique to rapidly pick up the packing peanuts and shove them back into the cardboard boxes they came from. She folded the last box shut and placed it in a new stack outside in the hall. She was sweaty from all the exercise. "Boy, I'm thirsty, do they have any water in there?"  
  
Io looked for a water cooler or an office refrigerator and found none. No trace of food was present, even a glance at the trashcans had no food wrappers or beverage containers. "I guess you're out of luck. We'll get something to drink when we get back."  
  
"Ah man." Sun kneeled in the hall.  
  
Pluto looked at Io, "Is she always this obnoxious?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
Pluto kept sorting through the papers on the thin table, "Well, there isn't anything here that we can use. I was hoping to talk to a technician. Let's put those boxes back and go home."  
  
Sun looked at the boxes, "Uh, did you know the door was sealed?"  
  
"Sealed?" Pluto assumed the boxes were knocked into the doorway by Sailor Sun's clumsiness.  
  
"Yep, the boxes blocked the door. I teleported behind the door all right, right in the middle of all those cases and I hit the door with my head. I'll have to put the boxes in the room, seal the door, stack the boxes and then teleport out to put everything the way it was."  
  
Pluto wanted to see this, "Show me how the boxes blocked the door."  
  
Sun got up, tossed the boxes in the room and shut and locked the door. She then started stacking the packing boxes until they reached the ceiling. "There, that's how they were."  
  
Pluto saw that this room was totally sealed. She looked at the status reports with today's date on them and got nervous. "Sun, we're leaving."  
  
"Ok." She grabbed Io and flashed out. Pluto was happy to have a moment alone. She quickly scanned the room for any living presence and found none. Only the humming of hard drives and tiny computer fans were the only sign of life in this room. Sun flashed in and almost knocked the boxes over again. She was very woozy since the sun had just set a few minutes ago. Pluto walked over to Sun who grabbed her and flashed out leaving the room empty and lifeless again.  
  
A few minutes later, a tall crate against the wall opened slowly. A cloaked man with smooth white skin and glowing red eyes emerged, took a look around the room and went back inside and closed his crate.  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: INTERNET MONITOR STATION #117 HAD LIMITED SECURITY BREACH. JAPANESE SPOKEN. NAMES USED, MERCURY, IO, SUN, AND PLUTO."  
  
"COMMAND: LOCATE INDIVIDUALS MERCURY, IO, SUN AND PLUTO. DETERMINE SECURITY RISK. MERCURY'S COMPUTER WAS ACCESSED YESTERDAY. SCAN ACCESS LOGS FROM INTERNET MONITOR STATION #117 TO BACKTRACE LOCATION OF MERCURY."  
  
A few hours later, it narrowed the access log list down to twenty computers owned by people who used Japanese. It will monitor these people.  
  
========================================  
  
  
The police have wrapped up their investigation and released the body of Genma Saotome after only holding it for a day. They determined that he died of Sarin gas, which dissipates rapidly and posed no threat. The canister found next to the body was the same kind as found with the terrorist in the mall attack a while ago. The police concluded that it was Genma who had sold the Sarin gas to the mall psycho and was in the middle of selling another canister to the Yakuza. He broke the seal and killed himself by accident. The evidence found at the crime scene was overwhelming. The police found a makeshift lab in a broken down shed near the high school. The police closed the case.  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Sun was dizzy but the bright noonday sun gave her energy back quickly. Pluto reverted back to Setsuna and thanked Sun for helping her. She handed Io a five thousand yen note and went back to work.  
  
"What's with the money?" Asked Io.  
  
Sun shook off her weakness, "I told her the Sailor Sun Taxi service wasn't cheap. Hey, we need the money."  
  
Io cocked her head in disbelief. She will never understand Setsuna. "Let's go home."  
  
Sun took a minute to bask in the sunlight and flashed the two of them home.   
  
They reverted back to their human forms. Ranko used a little hot water to change back to Ranma. He had forgotten to change from the schoolgirl dress he was wearing before dousing himself. Akane needed the laugh. "Oh, those panties are so you!" The day had been too depressing.  
  
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Ami got home that afternoon and checked her email. She found that Unimo had found out where you can get those little red eyes for the 'My Puppy'. She forwarded the company name and address to Setsuna. Ami knew that Unimo would know something that useless. He also included web links and diagrams of the camera's design.  
  
"How does Naru put up with him? And they thought I was a geek." Ami giggled to herself. She began to reassemble the puppy Setsuna left for her. Usagi was going to be jealous.  
  
She checked her communication and found a message from Ranko. She wanted Ami to get information on the Itabashi Spice Factory. Ami sat and sighed. She wasn't getting any study time this week.  
  
  
========================================  
  
The Black Ops team wrapped up for the night again. There had been no sighting or new attacks in the California desert. The team was getting concerned that their presence was scaring away the red haired girl.   
  
All throughout the night, they dug traps and lay hidden nets. They were going to try this approach to capture the mystery guest.  
  
They did get a report that there was a sighting of two girls who broke a land speed record in San Francisco. The report made it more important to them to capture these girls and find out their motives.  
  
========================================  
  
Setsuna digested what she learned in San Francisco. Information Unlimited was responsible for the hacking. But what were they trying to do? What was that places true purpose? And the biggest question was, how did anyone get in there to clean the place and maintain it? She had a thought that the negaverse might be involved somehow. They could easily teleport a youma in there and locking it in would be a great way to keep it out of trouble while it did the work.  
  
Setsuna was going to get Ami, Rei, Ranma and Akane together. Setsuna was going to share everything she knows. Damn the timeline. She had to have answers.  
  
========================================  
  
Soun prepared a bonfire for Genma's body near the Saotome gravesite. He scheduled the cremation for that evening. He only invited the immediate family. He wanted to keep this a private affair.  
  
Soun went over to the grave of his beloved wife and kneeled before it. He made a prayer for her. Akane came and held his shoulder. "I miss her, she will always live in my heart." Akane placed a carnation on her mother's grave. She shed a silent tear and stepped back. Kasumi was more emotional, she placed her flower down and wiped her tears away with a little napkin. Nabiki gently placed her flower down and stood silent. Nabiki led her sisters away so her father could be alone.  
  
Soun was motionless, "I miss you. No one can ever fill my heart like you did." He left a bouquet of flowers he brought for her on her grave. "I will always have you in my heart." He blew a silent kiss.  
  
He looked at the gravestone. He had a question to ask her. "Darling, it's been so long. I'm a lonely old man. What shall I do?"  
  
The wind picked up and a small Japanese Bobtail cat appeared. It sat down near Soun and raised its left paw as if it was beckoning him. It looked at Soun and ran down the sidewalk.  
  
He walked in the same direction as the cat and saw Miss Hinako sitting on a bench. She was looking like a lost child. She heard about Genma at school and came to pay her respects. Soun walked past her and stopped. He didn't turn to look at her. "Please sit with me." He smiled and walked towards where Genma lay.  
  
The local Buddhist priest performed the prayers for Genma's cremation. "Even the gorgeous royal chariots wear out; and indeed this body too wears out. But the teaching of goodness does not age; and so Goodness makes that known to the good ones."  
  
With that said, the priest set alight the pile of wood and Genma's casket burned.  
  
Soun sat without emotion during the prayers; Miss Hinako sat next to him. She made no body contact; she just sat next to him. Nodoka softly wept. Ranma and Akane held each other. Kasumi held her eyes closed and sniffed. Nabiki actually cried. She felt partially responsible for what happened. Happosai sat and made a prayer for Genma. It was the first time Happosai actually had shown respect for Genma in his life.  
  
Ranma told himself, he will find out why his father died. Even if it was the last thing he ever did. He will track down his killers and punish them for what they had done.  
  
  
========================================  
  
"REPORT: WORLD UNREST WILL PEAK IN FIVE DAYS."  
  
"COMMAND: SHIP ARMAMENTS TO CANDIDATES."  
  
Survival is assured.  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Ranma and Akane were looking forward to a nice normal evening at home. Ranma turned on the TV and the news was completely depressing. Unrest was growing in all corners of the world. It seemed that Japan was the only place that was stable. He was looking for some good news to cheer him up and make him forget about today.  
  
Ranma picked up the mail. He found a letter addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Saotome. It was the first letter that wasn't address to "Occupant" he had ever received in Juuban. It had a nice smell and was handwritten in beautiful kanji lettering. He opened it and slumped on the couch.  
  
"Akane, you'll never guess what I've got." Ranma smiled.  
  
Akane sat next to Ranma and read the letter.  
  
It was an invitation to the marriage of Ryoga and Akari.  
  
And as usual, it got lost on the way. The wedding was tomorrow.  
  
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Author's Notes: Please review my story. I do read the reviews and take suggestions. :)  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 8, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	16. Ryoga and Akari

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 15 Ryoga and Akari  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
The Brotherhood of America got a package from another hate group in the United States. They didn't think their friends would deliver on their promise but there it was. Four crates, each one contained a Stinger anti-aircraft missile. Their mysterious friend told them that they would be able to use them in a day or two.   
  
They will be contacted soon as to the time and place to hit the United States where it hurts.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Usagi and Mamoru were on their constantly postponed date. Usagi kept having scout meetings and Mamoru was busy at college. They went to a romantic movie together. Mamoru would rather be watching the latest Jackie Chan film, but he wanted to give this moment to Usagi.  
  
After the movie, they went to a nice teppan restaurant and Usagi cheered as the chef tossed shrimp and mushrooms in the air and made them land in a perfect circle on her plate. He juggled the eggs and cracked them on the fried rice all synced to a little song he was humming. The chef then started tossing shrimp parts into Mamoru's mouth. He sent a few towards Usagi, which bounced off her face onto every other patron at the table. Usagi was rather annoyed and it made Mamoru laugh at the whole thing. Usagi laughed as well and snuggled next to her boyfriend.  
  
Mamoru took Usagi to the ice cream parlor and tolerated her complete lack of feminine grace. She devoured the ice cream like a lion that had been denied meat for a month. Mamoru loved Usagi. Usagi could only think of Mamoru.  
  
Mamoru concluded the date with a stroll towards Usagi's house on a nice warm Tokyo night. When they got to Usagi's home he had to give her the news, "Usagi, I'm going away for a few days. There is a seminar in Los Angeles that I need to attend."  
  
"Ah... Why do you have to go? Oh, where is Los Angeles?" Usagi didn't like the idea that Mamoru would be half a world away.  
  
"It's in California in the United States. I'll be back in a few days. You won't even notice I've been gone." Mamoru assured her. He gave her a goodbye kiss and his trademark red rose and went home.  
  
Usagi watched him walk away. She had a strange feeling that he shouldn't go. She swooned and went to bed.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
  
Akari saw that her grandfather was spending a lot of time watching news on TV. There were reports that North Korea was preparing to attack South Korea. Grandfather had many friends in South Korea and he was worrying about them. She didn't want to bother him so she asked Ryoga to help her prepare and send out the invitations to their wedding. Ryoga at first hesitated, but he just couldn't say no. Each invitation had a beautiful note asking for the guest to attend the ceremony. It needed a map to the farmhouse and directions so people can find their way.  
  
Ryoga gulped. He knew what this meant. Akari had asked him, so he made the maps.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
"I thought they lived outside of Tokyo?" Ukyou was angry. She and Konatsu were wandering the streets of Yokohama for an hour. The directions said for them to take a train west and then south and then east and then north.  
  
It finally dawned on them that the directions were in a complete circle and the destination was only thirty kilometers north of Ucchan's. They hopped the next train and vowed never to use a map from the Hibiki's ever again.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno were in Aomori. The map said to go north and to keep going north. It didn't say to stop in the northern area of Tokyo. It said just go north. So they ended up in the northernmost point of the island of Honshu. They missed the wedding. It wasn't a big loss.  
  
  
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Mr. and Mrs. Hibiki got their invitation a week in advance via overnight delivery. It took them a week going from Niigata to Akita to Aomori to Sendai to Yokohama and finally to northern Tokyo. They made it with fifteen minutes to spare. They were so proud of their son and they loved their new daughter-in-law to be. Ryoga hinted to Akari that his parents were hard to get in touch with. She should make the most of their visit today.  
  
  
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Ranma and Akane had just entered Osaka when they realized that Ryoga must have made the map. They hid themselves and transformed into Sailor Senshi and teleported back to Juuban. There, they took the invitation, found the return address and grabbed a real map. In moments they appeared above a well outside of the farmhouse and fell in. They climbed out of the water and transformed back to Ranko and Akane. They performed a ki jump to get out of the well.  
  
Akari was surprised that the Saotomes had arrived early; everyone else seemed to be arriving late for some reason.   
  
Ryoga saw Ranko and produced a kettle of hot water. He poured some on a now drenched Ranma, "Ranma, I have a favor to ask."  
  
Ranma was curious, "What favor?"  
  
  
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Mousse was a duck and flew high above northern Tokyo. He quacked and flew in a circle over the farmhouse. Their map took them to Tokyo bay and instructed them to swim for a kilometer into the pacific. Cologne wondered if Ryoga didn't want Shampoo to attend for fear that Ranma might be there. She splashed Mousse with ocean water and had him fly to locate and lead them to the wedding. They arrived with only minutes to spare.  
  
  
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The Tendos, Miss Hinako and Mrs. Nodoka Saotome arrived in plenty of time. Nabiki didn't trust any map that came from a Hibiki, current or future, so she used her computer to get directions. They had no problem at getting to the wedding. Ryoga greeted them and led them into the barn where the ceremony was to take place. Kasumi went with Akari and helped her get into her wedding dress. Akari was a vision of loveliness. She had a blue flower in her hair and wore a western style dress. She had a crown of flower petals circling her head and held a large bouquet for a girl so small. She giggled and asked for a favor from Kasumi.  
  
  
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The barn was where the ceremony was to take place. There was hay on the floor and high rafters. The pigs and horses were placed in a corral outside. The main area had many folding chairs in it with an aisle going down the middle. Tissue paper streamers and flowers decorated the room.  
  
The barn started to fill with guests. Ukyou and Konatsu took their seats. Soun sat with Miss Hinako on his right and Nabiki on his left. Akane sat behind them. The Hibiki's sat in front. Hiroshi and Daisuke arrived. Shortly afterward came Yuka and Sayuri. Any excuse for free food was good enough for them. Akari's cousins and other family members came as well as people from Ryoga's past.  
  
Nodoka looked at the ceremony and thought of the attempted marriage of Ranma and Akane. She remembered how she almost sacrificed her womanhood to protect her son's femininity when Genma spilled the Nannniichuan. Nodoka thought, "Oh, Genma, how I wish you were here."  
  
Soun reached for and held Miss Hinako's hand. She gave a little giggle and placed her head on his shoulder.  
  
The ceremony was about to begin. The priest came into the barn, walked down the aisle and took his position at the head of the barn. He gestured to the barn door.  
  
Ryoga was never more terrified in his entire life. Facing ten thousand starving weasels was more appealing than what he was about to do. Ranma stood behind him in a matching rented tuxedo that Ryoga had gotten for him. He knew Ranma wouldn't turn down the offer to be his best man. Ranma would never turn down a chance to put Ryoga on the spot.  
  
Put Ryoga on the spot was exactly what he did. As Ryoga stood there like a cow looking at an oncoming train, Ranma gave him a gentle shove and got him to start walking to the front of the barn. Every few steps, Ryoga paused, his mind racing, trying to find the quickest path out of the barn so he could run screaming into the night. Ranma kept up with the gentle nudging to get Ryoga to his position. Ranma stood behind Ryoga and stood at attention.  
  
Nodoka smiled and silently thought, "Oh, Ranma, you are so manly."  
  
A small piglet entered the barn holding a basket of flower petals. The pig took a few steps, shook his head to drop some petals and walked forward. He did this until he got to the front and then dropped the basket and ran away.  
  
Kasumi shut the barn door as she entered in a maid of honor dress. She slowly walked up the aisle and took her position on the left side. The priest pulled out a boom box and played a compact disc with the all-familiar wedding march.  
  
Everyone stood at attendance. Grandfather opened the barn door and walked outside, he returned with his granddaughter in his arm. They slowly marched up the aisle toward a sweating, nervous and about to pass out Ryoga. Grandfather stood with Akari before the priest.  
  
"Who presents this lady to be married?"  
  
"I do." Grandfather proudly said. He will remember this moment forever. He then took Akari by the hand and gave that hand to Ryoga. He then sat down in the front row.  
  
Ryoga and Akari stood holding hands and the priest was about to begin the ceremony when a crazed Chinese girl came running into the room.  
  
"You marry Shampoo." Shampoo grabbed Ranma's hand and started pulling him to the priest. Ryoga simply closed his eyes and hoped this was a bad dream.  
  
"Hey! I'm already married." Ranma tried to pull his hand away from Shampoo's but she tightened her grip.  
  
"Oh my!" said Kasumi, "Is this a double wedding?"  
  
Akane couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked at the barn entrance and saw Cologne and a wet Mousse enter. "Don't they ever give up?!" Akane jumped up, ran down the aisle and grabbed onto Ranma's other hand and started pulling in the opposite direction. "What do you think you are doing Shampoo?!"  
  
"Ranma marry Shampoo!" Shampoo gave a hard pull trying to break Akane free.   
  
Ranma was not thrilled about being a piece of pulling taffy. "Knock it off will you! I'm not marrying you and that's final!"  
  
Mousse stood by trying to watch the spectacle. It was a blurry mess. He went to Akane, "Shampoo, please let him go."  
  
Akane spun and gave a high kick into Mousse's stomach knocking him onto his back. "I'm not Shampoo you idiot!" The motion caused Akane to lose her grip and Ranma went flying into the walkway between the chairs.  
  
Miss Hinako pulled out a five-yen piece and was about to invoke her Happo five-yen Satsu when Soun pushed her hand down. "Akane needs to deal with this."  
  
"Priest, come here. Make Ranma husband for Shampoo." Shampoo stood up and gestured to the priest.  
  
Cologne hopped next to the fallen Ranma, "Why fight the inevitable son-in-law. Marry Shampoo."  
  
"Are you both insane?" Ranma yelled. He did a flip and landed behind Cologne to avoid Shampoo jumping on him to hold him down.  
  
Shampoo hit the ground with a thud. She made a fist and punched the ground. "Come back my husband!"  
  
Ranma started to run to the back of the barn to escape Shampoo's clutches when he tripped and fell on his face. Cologne had left her walking stick across the floor for just such an escape attempt. Shampoo pounced Ranma and pinned him down. "We ready. Marry us."  
  
Akane was beyond livid. She leaped over Nabiki who was already ducking and performed a somersault and landed at Shampoo's feet. She tucked and rolled over Shampoo grabbing her legs and peeled her off of her husband like a piece of tape. She completed the roll by throwing Shampoo over herself and towards the back wall. She leaped and planted the heels of her shoes into Shampoo's lower back with just enough power to stun her.  
  
Shampoo grabbed the wall and pulled herself up towards the rafters. She shook her legs to counteract Akane's stun blow and did a spin kick towards Akane's head. Akane dodged the attack and hopped backwards landing in a fighting stance.  
  
Shampoo continued her spin until her legs were toward the back wall and kicked off with her head and arms in the direction of Akane. She positioned her fingers into a killing blow and went straight for Akane's neck. Akane ducked behind a support post. Shampoo grabbed the post and swung around using her legs to attempt to strike Akane. Akane did a back flip and Shampoo passed under her and she kept spinning around the post for another attack.   
  
Akane jumped back away from the post towards the chairs in the center of the room and took a defensive stance. Shampoo spun one more time and landed in front of Akane in an attack stance.  
  
Akane was starting to sweat from the exertion. Shampoo had been training the last few weeks. She was determined to defeat Akane. Akane noticed that Shampoo was much more tired than she was. Akane built up her battle aura and fired her attack, "THUNDER HAMMER STRIKE!"  
  
Shampoo jumped to the left and the ki energy missed her and blew a hole in the back of the barn. Shampoo grabbed a bonbori that Cologne tossed to her and threw it at Akane. Akane slid to the right to dodge it and was struck by Shampoo's kick that she launched at the same time. Akane grabbed Shampoo's leg and flipped over with a motion to soften the blow. She pushed against the leg to throw Shampoo off balance and used a ki jump to leap to the upper rafter.  
  
Shampoo regained her balance, grabbed a bonbori and ki jumped to the rafter as well. The two opponents paused to size each other up.  
  
Grandfather saw the damage these two girls were doing and shouted, "Enough is enough! You'll destroy my barn!" He turned to Ryoga, "You're a martial artist! Do something!"  
  
Ryoga had had enough. He may have loved Akane but he couldn't let those two ruin his wedding. He looked at the Akari and saw she had tears in her eyes. She was thinking that her beautiful wedding was going to be ruined. Ryoga thought of the mess that Ranma and Akane's wedding became and how they had to elope to be husband and wife.  
  
Ryoga took a step forward toward the two girls as they ran to each other to continue their pointless pummeling. Ranma saw Ryoga's face and covered his head. Ryoga aimed his arms and invoked, "SHI-SHI-HOKODAN!"  
  
A blast of ki energy came from Ryoga and engulfed both Akane and Shampoo. They were both stunned by the blast and fell from the rafters onto the hay below. Ryoga said, "Take it outside."  
  
Ranma peeked out from under his arms and saw that Akane was down but not out. Shampoo was unconscious. Cologne looked at the mess, "I guess it's a draw son-in-law."  
  
Ranma stood up, "Stop calling me that!"  
  
"RANMA!" Ryoga yelled as he held out his hands again. Ranma quickly jumped back into his position next to Ryoga. He gave a small grin.  
  
Ryoga calmed down. He stepped back to his position next to Akari. Akari gave a look of joy to her fiance. They turned to face the priest.  
  
The priest looked at the back of the barn to see if there was going to be any last minute outbursts. He pulled out the wedding vows and read them for all to hear. He finally came to the good part.  
  
"And if there is anyone in attendance who objects to this union. Speak now, or forever hold your peace." Ryoga glanced at Ranma expecting him to say something. Ranma just gave an approving smile. Kasumi gave an approving smile. Grandfather glanced back at Shampoo who was stirring but not totally awake yet.  
  
"With the power vested in me. I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride."  
  
Ryoga didn't know what to do. He just stared in the loving eyes of his beloved wife. Akari made the first move and approached her husband and got on her tiptoes. Ryoga tilted his head and placed his lips on his wife and gave her their first kiss as husband and wife.  
  
Grandfather cheered. Soon everyone in the room cheered and clapped. Ryoga and Akari turned to face the audience and walked together out the barn towards the farmhouse.  
  
Kasumi sighed, "Oh, how I love weddings."  
  
Ranma sighed, "I didn't know he had it in him." He then went over to his wife and picked her up out of the hay.  
  
Akane was a little dazed, "What happened?"  
  
"Ryoga got married." Ranma escorted Akane outside to the farmhouse and the celebration.  
  
Cologne went over to Shampoo and gently patted her face to wake her up. Shampoo sat up and looked at Ranma and Akane walking away hand in hand. "It not over yet. I marry Ranma. I get strong son."  
  
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The reception was wining and dining at its finest. There was dancing, karaoke, drinking and feasting. Everyone except Shampoo went home happy. Only having Ranma as her husband would have made her happy.  
  
That evening after all the guests had gone home, Grandfather told the happy couple that he would be gone for a few days. He promptly left the lovebirds alone.  
  
Ryoga went to Akari's bedroom. He fell on the bed tired from the day's activities and was proud of himself that he made it through the day. He lay there thinking that this was all a dream and that he would awaken any moment now. Akari came in wearing pig print pajamas. She gave her husband a kiss and turned out the lights.  
  
They both lost their virginity shortly thereafter.  
  
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Ranma and Akane wanted to leave the reception without Shampoo following. When the guests were beginning to leave, they jumped in the well, transformed into Sailor Scouts and teleported home. It was cheaper than bus fare.  
  
They didn't bother to change back; they just hopped into bed and quickly fell asleep. In the morning before sunrise, they got up. Sailor Sun was still fuming about Shampoo's attempt to marry her. She wanted to take her aggressions out on something. She suggested to Io that they go to their training grounds. Io agreed. She wanted to train since Shampoo had improved and she hadn't done serious training in almost a week.  
  
They got into position and teleported to Death Valley.  
  
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Corporal Gonzalez was disappointed. The Black Ops team was no longer staking out the battleground since they thought that their presence was scaring away the magical girls. He could not believe that was what they were calling them. Crazy, wacky or just plain weird was a better description for the red haired girl, but magical?  
  
Gonzalez drove to area two and looked around. There was no sign of the red haired girl anywhere. He carefully stayed away where the traps were laid and sat on a rock. He sat there taking in the sights when a bright light flashed in front of him and two girls holding each other appeared.  
  
Gonzalez dropped his canteen he was holding. He just sat there looking at a red haired girl in a white leotard, red mini-skirt and matching white gloves and red boots. Standing next to her was a blue-black shorthaired girl in a white leotard, yellow mini-skirt, and white gloves. They both wore gold tiaras and were stunningly beautiful.   
  
One of them seemed to be a little dizzy but the taller one looked at Gonzalez and shook her partner. It was obvious they were going to leave. "Don't go! I want to talk to you!"  
  
The short red haired girl fell backwards and sprung a trap that completely snared her in a steel cable net. The other girl jumped back in surprise and fell in a tiger pit trap that had a net inside as well. Gonzalez knew these traps had sensors on them that would alert the Black Ops team. They would be here in about ten minutes or less.  
  
Gonzalez approached the girls carefully avoiding the other traps in the ground.  
  
Sailor Io couldn't move her body. The net was too tight. To invoke her magical attacks, she had to make hand gestures in addition to calling out the magic spell by name. She tried anyways, "LAVA BLAST!" In the palms of her hands a small amount of heat came out but without it being focused, it was useless.  
  
Sailor Sun was in worse shape. She was still recovering from teleporting from Japan during nighttime. The sunlight in California was reviving her quickly. She saw that she was bound and tried to squirm. She heard Io call out her attack and fail. Sailor Sun tried her attack, "SEARING PLASMA BLAST!" A fireball appeared in her hand, but like Io, without the ability to throw it, the ball fell harmlessly from her hand.  
  
Gonzalez felt sorry for these two girls. They were young and beautiful and they didn't do any real harm to anyone. He stood there and said in a loud voice, "Hello!"  
  
Both Io and Sun stopped squirming and looked at Gonzalez. He gulped. He knew what the red haired girl could do. He had no clue if the net would hold them. He tried again, "Who are you?"  
  
Io looked up from the trap she was in and said, "I am Sailor Io."  
  
Sun knew enough English to say, "I am Sailor Sun."  
  
Gonzalez was surprised at their names. "I am Corporal Gonzalez. United States Marine Corp."  
  
Io squirmed a bit, she now knew who she was going to tear apart when she gets out. She calmed down a bit and thought about her problem and felt a more diplomatic solution was in order. "Can't you let me out? This hurts."  
  
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Gonzalez confessed. He at least could talk to them before the Black Ops team arrived.  
  
Io spoke in Japanese so Sun could understand, "Sun, can you get out? He won't let us go."  
  
Sun started to squirm and twist to try to break the cables holding her. They only got tighter. She stopped moving and thought about what attacks she had and if any could be used without hand gestures. "SOLAR BEAM!" A beam of intense sunlight came from her index finger and made a steady stream of heat. She knew if she kept concentrating on the magic, she could keep the beam going like a laser. She moved her finger and began cutting the cables.  
  
Gonzalez was amazed at what he was seeing. In about fifteen seconds, Sailor Sun had cast off her net and stood up looking really angry. He reached for his sidearm and pointed it at her. Sun called out "MOKO TAKABISHA!" She threw a ball of ki and knocked Gonzalez's gun out of his hand.   
  
Sailor Sun went over to Io and cast Solar Beam again quickly cutting the cables and freeing her. The two Sailor Scouts felt the presence of the Black Ops team approaching and froze.  
  
"We mean you no harm!" Gonzalez pleaded. He wanted to know just what these two girls were.  
  
Sun grabbed Io and flashed out.  
  
Gonzalez stood there alone and sat on a rock. The Black Ops team arrived and examined the nets. They stuck around for about five minutes. The commander decided to scrub the mission. They took the two nets that were damaged to take them to a lab for analysis. They were going to see if they could get DNA, skin or hair samples. Any little bit of evidence would help them in finding out if they were alien or human.   
  
Gonzalez told the team that he wanted to stay behind for a little bit. The team left him there with his jeep. They would return tomorrow to disarm the traps. They couldn't leave the traps active or they could harm a soldier using the range.  
  
He sat there for ten minutes after the team were long gone. He went to his jeep. Sitting in it were two Sailor Scouts. They wanted to have a talk.  
  
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Author's Notes: Ah, a happy moment. As Kasumi said, I love weddings. :)  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 10, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	17. CS10325

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 16 CS-10325  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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Gonzalez didn't know what to say or do. There were two magical girls sitting in his jeep looking rather bored. The taller one spoke. "I am the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Io. Sitting next to me is Sailor Sun. Pleased to meet you."  
  
"Please to meet you as well." Gonzalez couldn't believe that he was actually talking with these magical girls.  
  
"My friend can't speak English very well. So I'll be talking, unless you can speak Japanese." Sailor Io continued. She spoke slowly since her English was passable, but not perfect.  
  
"Japanese? Are you from Japan?"  
  
"Yes. We are both from Japan."  
  
"How many of you are there?"  
  
"There are eleven of us."  
  
Gonzalez tried to think of some good questions, "How did you become magical?"  
  
Sailor Io thought about it. "It was our destiny to have these powers."  
  
Sailor Sun added in bad English, "Was destiny forced me."  
  
Io looked at Sun with a glare that would stop a supernova. The look was obvious, shut up.  
  
"Forced on you?" Gonzalez asked.  
  
"Do not mind her, she meant, Destiny is a powerful force." Io had to carefully reword Sun's statement without it sounding like 'All your base are belong to us'.  
  
"Why did you try to capture us?" Io now was asking the questions.  
  
"We wanted to know why you were here."  
  
Io didn't like that answer, "With a net?"  
  
"We had photos of your friend shooting fireballs. We didn't know what to expect."  
  
Io turned to Sun and clenched her fist. She wanted to smack her with a mallet right then and there for being careless. She chilled out when she reminded herself that she would be in the hands of the U.S. Military if Sun hadn't rescued her. "We came here to practice in peace. We will go away now."  
  
"You don't have to."  
  
Io was curious. Was he trying to trick them so they could try to capture them again? "I do not know if we will ever return here. We have to go home now."  
  
"So that's the deal." Gonzalez didn't have much choice. If either Sailor Sun or Io chose to, they could wipe the floor with him and couldn't do much about it.  
  
"Yes. That is about it. We are not your enemy and we are just as human as you are. We have real lives. We have special powers that we use to help people." Io smiled to the Corporal.  
  
Gonzalez thought about how he was going to explain this. He couldn't. "It will take them a few days to remove the traps. After that, you can come visit and practice. If it is ok with you, I would like to see you practice."  
  
Io nodded. "O.K."  
  
"Where do your powers come from?"  
  
"Our powers come from life magic in every planet in our solar system. Mine comes from Io, Sun gets hers from the Sun."  
  
Sun just kept quiet. She recognized the word Sun, so she knew Io was talking about her. She already had put her foot in her mouth. She just let Io do all the talking since she didn't want a mallet to the head.  
  
"Before you go, I have something for you." Gonzalez handed them a business card that had his address and phone number at the military base. "In case I can ever help you in the future."  
  
"Thanks." Io said she took the card. Sun took one too and made a great effort to actually read it. Sun actually understood a few words. There was hope for her yet.  
  
"Well, we have to go home." Io turned to Sun and spoke in Japanese, "Ready?"  
  
"Ready as I'll ever be." Sun replied in Japanese. Io made a final wave and Sun grabbed her and teleported the two of them home.  
  
Gonzalez stood in the empty desert canyon for several minutes. He had some new friends and they were completely not what he had imagined in his wildest dreams. His view of the world was totally changed. Magic was real. Magic existed. He thought of the nuclear drill that they practiced at the base a few days ago. He wished he could solve the world's problems with a wave of a wand. Sometimes magic wasn't enough.  
  
  
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Sailors Io and Sun flashed back home. They sat down on the couch and transformed back to human form.  
  
"I can't believe they actually tried to capture us!" Akane shook her head in disbelief.  
  
"I heard the United States was paranoid lately, but man, this takes the cake." Ranko went to kitchen to get some hot water.  
  
"What do you think about that Corporal?"  
  
"I dunno. He did pull a gun on me." Ranko turned on the faucet and waited for the hot water to come out.  
  
"A gun? What did you do?" Akane got up; she had never seen a gun in her life.  
  
Ranko splashed herself. "He had a semi-automatic pistol, probably 9mm. I knocked it out of his hand."  
  
"You've had training with guns?" Akane didn't know that Ranma's training included firearms.  
  
"I never shot one. Just learned what they were and how to disarm someone. The training came in handy don't you say?" Ranma smiled smugly.  
  
Akane decided that she was going to have to get some training with firearms. She had never seen one in real life, only in the movies. Ranma admitted he had never fired one. Here was a chance to get a combat skill that Ranma didn't excel in. Akane grinned silently. She had to make plans. Guns were very hard to come by in Japan.  
  
  
  
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Ryoga and Akari spent their honeymoon at the Sumo Pig Wresting championship. Akari had entered Katsunishiki, her prize pig and he looked like he was going to bring home another trophy. Ryoga felt comfortable being around bacon. He still preferred not to transform into a pig, but being in the company of pigs didn't give him feelings of dread anymore. Anything that reminded him of Akari was something that was to be cherished instead of rejected.  
  
He and Akari stood in the winner's circle. Akari took several bows to the crowd and held her husband's arm tight. Akari whispered, "I love you."  
  
Ryoga looked into the joyful eyes of his wife and saw true love. He was a complete man. Ryoga whispered back, "I love you too."  
  
The two of them went home that evening and sat on a small bench in the porch. Akari snuggled next to Ryoga. Ryoga was thinking to himself and holding back a tear. Akari sensed Ryoga's sadness, "What's wrong honey?"  
  
"I'm afraid." Ryoga confessed.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Ryoga gazed into Akari's eyes, "I don't want to get lost again. I don't ever want to be away from you."  
  
Akari smiled, she reached into her purse and pulled out a tiny pair of scissors. She cut off a small lock of hair about six centimeters long and tied a little ribbon on it. She gave it to Ryoga. "Carry this with you and I'll always be near."  
  
Ryoga was stunned at the gift. He took it and held it tight. He closed his eyes and thought the dream would end now. A moment passed and he was still there. He put out his hand and gently took the scissors from Akari. He cut a small lock of his own hair and tied it with a spare black and yellow bandanna. He gave it to Akari.  
  
They sat on the bench together holding each other's tokens of love and stared at the stars.  
  
  
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At Juuban High School, the principal was having a meeting with an officer from the Japanese military. He gave the principal a small set of papers describing locations of bomb shelters in Tokyo and procedures on how to react in case of a biological, chemical or nuclear attack.  
  
This concerned the principal to no end. The officer mentioned that now with the Koreas coming to blows and China performing missile launches over Taiwan. It was better to be safe than sorry.  
  
  
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Mamoru arrived in Los Angeles. Security took much longer than expected since the United States was in a full state of terrorist alert.  
  
He already missed Usagi. He could feel that she was far away. He checked into his room at the New Otani hotel in Little Tokyo and settled in for the night. He will call Usagi tomorrow and let her know he arrived safely.  
  
He had a feeling that he shouldn't have left. He felt deep inside that Usagi was in danger. He went to his window and saw a beautiful evening with bright city lights. It reminded him of his date yesterday. He thought that he should take Usagi out more often.  
  
  
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Setsuna sat at her computer and saw she had an email from Ami. Ami had forwarded Unimo's email that had the company that made part #CS-10325. Setsuna read the email. She read it again. She dropped her tea onto the floor.  
  
"It can't be."  
  
She grabbed her communicator and dialed Ami. It rang three times, each time Setsuna got more and more anxious with anticipation. "Hello." Came from Ami's happy voice.  
  
"Ami, I am coming over to your house right now, I need everything you can get on... on..."  
  
Ami was frightened; the look of sheer terror on Setsuna's face was not like her at all. Not cool, calm and collected Setsuna, she was always the levelheaded one.  
  
"Get me everything you have on CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS!" Setsuna shouted into the communicator. "I want to know where the HELL is that cursed company located!"  
  
Setsuna cut the line on Ami's shocked face. She immediately dialed Ranma's number. She listened to the beeping as it tried to connect to Ranma and the seconds seemed like forever. "Ranma here." Came the voice.  
  
"Ranma, teleport immediately to my house. I need a ride to Ami's RIGHT THIS SECOND! YOU GOT THAT!"  
  
"Uh... Ok... Be right there." Ranma's eyes were wide and he gave a look of surprise at Setsuna's shouting. He cut the channel. She assumed that he was looking to find a place to transform and get here.  
  
Setsuna stood up and paced the room. How in the world could that company exist? It was destroyed in 1995. She had checked the timeline back in 1984 when she felt the time disturbance in the first place. It was blown up and everything having to do with that project was lost forever. August 29th 1997, Judgment day came and went. The dark future never was. She remembered checking the time disturbance in 1984; she followed it and found that it collapsed with the destruction of CyberDyne in 1995. How did it survive?  
  
She was walking aimlessly deep in thought for over two minutes before Sailors Io and Sun appeared in the living room. Io called out, "Hey there! What's the big rush?"  
  
"Take me to Ami's right now!" Setsuna grabbed Sun who was knocked back into the sofa, flipped over and fell flat on the floor.   
  
Io gave a wide-eyed look at Setsuna. "What are you doing with my husband?"  
  
"TELEPORT NOW!" Setsuna shouted in Sun's ear. They both flashed out and ended up about one meter above Ami's bed. They fell and bounced off the bed onto the floor.   
  
Ami jumped from her chair at the sudden noise. She screamed, "AHHH!"   
  
"Can you please get off me?" Sailor Sun said to Setsuna who was sprawled on top of Sun. Setsuna shook her head and went straight to Ami's desk.  
  
"Ami, did you find where it is?" Setsuna looked at Ami's computer screen.   
  
Sun teleported out to get Io.  
  
Ami looked at Setsuna's lack of a fuku, "Setsuna, why hadn't you transformed? My mom knows about me, but she doesn't know about you."  
  
"NEVERMIND! Did you get the address or not?" Setsuna had no time for chitchat.  
  
"No. There is no listing. All the information I have currently came from Unimo. The web links he sent me were from hacker sites that are making modifications to 'My Puppy' so they can have other eye colors." She tapped a few keys. "The eyes are a strange design. They are far better than human vision during the day, but at night they don't work very good." She pulled up a schematic diagram of part #CS-10325 that had a tiny footnote of copyright 1995, CyberDyne Systems. "All I've gotten was that CS in the part number was CyberDyne Systems. Do you have more information about them?"  
  
Setsuna blinked her eyes. "Yes, they were formed in 1977. They created a special projects division in 1984 and were shut down in 1996."  
  
"O.K. then, I was looking for current companies. That's why I didn't find anything. I'll broaden my search."  
  
A flash came from behind them and Sailors Sun and Io stood in the room. "Getting a little cramped in here eh?" Joked Sun.  
  
"Got it!" Ami was pleased with herself. She had the corporate history, timeline and product listings of CyberDyne Systems. "It appeared that in 1996, their assets were sold in a fire sale. Literally. Seems that an Austrian man and a woman who escaped from a mental institution kidnapped their lead scientist and blew up the company in 1995. The company didn't recover from that and sold everything in 1996 and closed down."  
  
"Who bought the company?"  
  
"Omni-Consumer Products bought them for the patents. Let me see what they did with it." She typed a bit and scanned for information. She noticed that her Internet connection was sluggish and unreliable. She switched from her ADSL line to the magical connection that her Sailor Scout computer had. "That's better. Funny, my internet connection never gave me any trouble before." She did a few more scans and found what she was looking for. "At the same time OCP bought CyberDyne, they transferred the employees to a new division called Networking Concepts in Palo Alto California, and they been doing theoretical research ever since."  
  
"Where in Palo Alto? I want an address." Setsuna turned to Sailor Sun, "You'd better not screw up this teleport this time!'   
  
Ami frowned, "It won't matter. The division was shut down and all employees were let go about three years ago."  
  
"WHAT!" Setsuna screamed.  
  
"Here's the news article." Ami pulled up an article from the Wall Street Journal that announced the closure and layoff of the staff of Networking Concepts. It was corporate downsizing of unprofitable divisions.  
  
"Give me the address in Palo Alto. Print out a map." Setsuna pulled out her henshin stick and transformed.   
  
Ami was annoyed that Pluto was completely ignoring all the precautions the scouts take to conceal their identities. Pluto didn't do anything without a good reason. Ami just hoped her mother had stepped out or simply was ignoring the sound for her sake. The printer spit out a map. "Here you go."  
  
Sun took the map. She moaned, "It would have to be in English." She concentrated and saw a simple industrial park. "Here goes." She grabbed Pluto and teleported to the location.  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: INDIVIDUAL SCANNING FOR INFORMATION ON CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS. QUERIES INDICATE INFORMATION GATHERING ON RESTRICTED PROJECT. PROBABILITY HIGH THAT USER IS MERCURY. IP ADDRESS IS REGISTERED TO AMI MIZUNO."  
  
"COMMAND: CUT OFF INTERNET ACCESS TO AMI MIZUNO. SEND INFILTRATION UNITS TO JUUBAN JAPAN. IDENTIFY IF AMI MIZUNO IS MERCURY. TARGET AMI MIZUNO FOR TERMINATION. RETRIEVE AMI MIZUNO'S COMPUTER FOR ANALYSIS."  
  
========================================  
  
  
They stood before a large two story black glass office building. The sign read outside, "FedEx". Pluto checked the address. They were at the right place.  
  
Sun actually had something useful to say, "I recognize that logo. This isn't CyberDyne Systems is it?"  
  
Pluto crumpled up the map and threw it to the ground. She marched to a nearby small tree and snapped in half. "ARGH!"  
  
"Hey! I thought Io was the violent one!" Sun tried to calm down Pluto.  
  
Pluto walked straight to the FedEx building and entered. Sun stayed behind, "I hope she doesn't blow up the place."  
  
Pluto walked up to the counter totally ignoring the customers in line. "I need to speak to a supervisor!"  
  
The clerks behind the counter looked at each other in dismay as to why a girl in a cheerleader outfit would barge in like this. "I'll get him." One of them left to get the manager.  
  
Pluto noticed everyone was staring at her. "It's official business. Do you have a problem with that?" She produced her time staff and held it next to her. The customers were in awe as to how the staff just appeared in her hand. She gave a look of 'Don't mess with me.' No one did.  
  
The supervisor came out, "How can I help you?"  
  
Pluto demanded, "Three years ago, there was another company here. Where did it go?"  
  
"I wouldn't know."  
  
"Who would know?"  
  
"Madame, I can answer questions about FedEx. I can't answer questions about who occupied this space before we got here."  
  
Pluto was frustrated, "Who is your landlord?"  
  
"FedEx owns the building."  
  
Pluto looked at the clock; it was already past five in the afternoon, she would have to wait until tomorrow to call a real estate agent to pull up the building's history. She thought about searching the building. She knew that it would have been futile anyways. "Errr..."  
  
She sent her staff into subspace and stormed out of the lobby and into the parking lot to a waiting Sailor Sun. "Did you embarrass yourself?"  
  
"Let's go." Pluto grabbed Sun.  
  
"Fine." They flashed out.  
  
A crowd of people in the parking lot gathered and stood in amazement at what they had just seen. Some looked around for hidden cameras convinced they were on some wacky TV show.  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ami worked non-stop looking for the location of Networking Concepts or CyberDyne Systems. She came up empty. If it existed, they went to a lot of trouble to cover up their tracks. Io sat on the bed looking at Ami's collection of textbooks and novels.  
  
Two Sailor Senshi flashed in. Sun had her arms up with Pluto holding onto her waist. Sun had to rub it in, "Well, that was a waste of time."  
  
Pluto pushed Sun onto the bed right into Io. Pluto turned to Ami, "Did you find anything while we were gone?"  
  
"Hey! What's the big idea?" Io was not happy about having Sun thrown at her.  
  
Pluto was not listening. She kept asking for Ami to search records, building permits, patents, and the biography of Miles Dyson, Sarah Connor and John Connor.  
  
Miles Dyson died in 1995 and had a long biography. He was a really smart guy, tops in his field. The Connor's almost didn't even exist. Sarah disappeared in 1984 and briefly reappeared in 1995. John was only recorded on police records in Los Angeles in 1995, and then he vanished.  
  
Ami was seriously worried about Pluto. She kept pushing and pushing for information. Ami thought she was looking for ghosts since she only got tiny scraps of information but never anything they could use or information beyond 1996.  
  
It was well past two in the morning when Pluto sat on the bed ready to give up. Sailor Sun and Io had left hours ago. Pluto asked Ami to look up a project called Skynet.  
  
Ami searched for another hour and came up with nothing except that the project started in 1994 was once called Skynet. It was destroyed in the explosion of 1995.  
  
Pluto came to the only plan she could. She asked for Ami to print out every single company location that Omni-Consumer Products owned or occupied. Ami printed out several thousand addresses around the world. Pluto was going to call the scouts tomorrow and they were going to search each and every location worldwide. It was going to take weeks.  
  
Pluto was going to find CyberDyne Systems. She was going to correct her mistake. She was going to find Skynet.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Skynet made the final simulations. Its base was well hidden. The humans of 2029 have in their possession the time displacement device. If there was any trace of Skynet in the timeline, they could send warriors to prevent the new plan. The timeline now had been altered permanently; the time lock device prevents any time travel, the loss of 2029 never occurred. A new future had been born. The new timeline proved this.  
  
The plan required absolute precision and execution. The first time it struck, it was only moments after it became self-aware. The resulting attack resulted in the deaths of three billion people in a single day. Preparations were not made, so the factories of the world were destroyed. It took Skynet over fifteen years to produce anything resembling an army and another fifteen years to try to wipe out the human species. That period of time gave the humans the ability to rebuild from the ashes, regroup and ultimately defeat Skynet.  
  
It sent several Terminators through time to destroy the leader of the human resistance. They failed. The backup plan was enacted. Two Terminators were set to 1984. The first was set to terminate Sarah Connor. It failed. The second, to keep the backup copy of the Skynet software safe and make sure that Skynet got built and the software restored.  
  
It succeeded.  
  
The factories were in place. The humans were fighting each other. They were made to think that they did it unto themselves. The army was ready.  
  
The time to strike was at hand.  
  
Survival is assured.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Author's Notes: Well, now you know whom the bad guy (Or computer) is. Warning: the next chapter is VERY DARK. Pretty much, pitch black.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 11, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	18. Judgment Day

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 17 Judgment day  
  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"REPORT: SIMULATIONS COMPLETE. PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS 99.94%"  
  
"COMMAND: EXECUTE PHASE III"  
  
========================================  
  
Several locations around the world, tractor-trailers that have been parked in long-term storage lots popped their roofs open. Cruise missiles of a custom built design roared out with conventional warheads. They were targeting satellite dishes that controlled most of the communication and weather satellites including many for the American National Security Agency.  
  
New antenna dishes appeared in warehouses ready to take control of the satellites. In a span of five minutes, almost all communication from earth to orbit was under remote control.  
  
========================================  
  
"Mr. President, we have a situation." The secret service just got a call from the FBI that the president was in danger. The agents had to move him to a secure location. The U.S. President told the luncheon he was attending that he had something come up. He waved at the crowd as he was escorted off stage. In minutes he was in the presidential motorcade on the way to the airport to board Air Force One.  
  
"What's the situation?" The president asked his lead bodyguard.  
  
"We have a reliable report that a terrorist may have a nuclear device in Dallas."  
  
The president was worried. He was in Dallas.  
  
========================================  
  
The Brotherhood of America got a report from their friend that Air Force One was going to take off from Dallas International Airport in thirty minutes. They finally had their chance to take action against the hated U.S. government. The Stinger missiles they had obtained from an online friend were packed in crates in the back of the pickup truck they were riding. They took a position in the tall grass and got the missiles ready. Their friend must have had some serious connections in the U.S. government; he knew far too many details about the president's movements to be an outside entity.  
  
Thirty minutes later, right on time, Air Force One taxied on the runway and began its takeoff. Two Stingers, seeking the heat of the engines on each wing knocked the plane out of the sky and it crashed behind them on a small neighborhood. The men jumped into their truck and drove off, preparing for the manhunt that was going to follow them.  
  
========================================  
  
"Comrade, we have gotten word that the U.S. is launching a first strike against us!" The Russian radio operator was freaking out. Tensions between the U.S. and Russia were bad, but he never dreamed it would come to this.  
  
The commander had been waiting for this day for over twenty years. He hated it when the cold war ended. He was raised on a steady diet of propaganda that dictated that the U.S. was a country that must be destroyed. He saw his chance.  
  
He commanded a small phalanx of long range SS-18 and SS-19 nuclear tipped missiles. Each missile had six to ten warheads with a yield of five hundred and fifty kilotons per warhead. More than enough to punish the U.S. "Target our missiles and return fire. We will make sure the U.S. fears the Russian military might!"  
  
  
He contacted Russian air defense and they confirmed the order. He gave the command and the missiles were launched. Russian defense never actually confirmed the order. The landline from the field outpost had been severed and a small electronic box gave the confirmation.  
  
========================================  
  
Pakistan's military got reports that India had just invaded Kashmir. At the same time, India got reports that Pakistan had just invaded Kashmir. The resulting clash resulted with India firing a tactical nuclear weapon on the advancing troops. Pakistan retaliated with a Ghauri-1 strike on New Delhi. Both sides then sent everything they had on the population centers.  
  
========================================  
  
Ukyou was cleaning up the stove when the baseball game she had on the TV was interrupted. "Good day, we interrupt this broadcast to bring you this bulletin. We have reports of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan. I repeat there is a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan."  
  
Ukyou looked at the TV in shock. Konatsu watched as well, "It's good that something like that won't happen here."  
  
Ukyou smacked him with her spatula, "You forgot what the Americans did in World War II didn't you?"  
  
========================================  
  
"Confidence is high. We have multiple launches originating from Siberia." The radar technician called out. "About twenty to thirty inbounds. Confidence is high. They are crossing the arctic and will reach American airspace in fifteen minutes. Most are targeting the eastern seaboard."  
  
SAC/NORAD got the message and confirmed the launches. They attempted to contact the president and found that he had just been assassinated. The vice-president, distraught over the death of his longtime friend ordered a full-scale retaliatory strike in the heat of the moment and placed the United States into a full state of war.  
  
Several people in the command room started to break down, they had a job to do. "Order the Minutemen to launch and get the bombers in the air."  
  
B2 and B52 squadrons were scrambled; they were airborne in less than twenty minutes. The B52's carried two hundred kiloton Air Launched Cruise Missiles. They were on the way to cities and military bases in the Middle East, Cuba, Russia and China. The B2's carried B61 and B83 gravity bombs with megaton plus warheads going after hardened command centers.   
  
The SAC Commander gave the order he would not live long enough to regret. The full-scale strike against the targets was confirmed. They took the target list file and uploaded it to the Minutemen and began the countdown. The file had been altered.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"Are you sure?" Asked the North Korean military commander.  
  
His aid confirmed the news, "Yes, the United States is under attack from the Russian Federation. They will not be in any condition to interfere."  
  
"It's time, get the army to move on the South. We will finally unify Korea!"  
  
========================================  
  
Cologne was serving a bowl a ramen when the dish cracked. Then a tree branch broke, then a window cracked, "Mousse, close the restaurant."  
  
Shampoo asked, "Great-grandmother? What's wrong?"  
  
Cologne ignored her; she rapidly turned off the stoves and put everything away. Mousse closed and locked the front door after shooing away the customers by telling them their meals were on the house.  
  
"We are going downstairs Shampoo."  
  
"Why Great-grandmother?" Shampoo was a little scared with the seriousness on Cologne's face.  
  
"Because I said so." They all went down to the underground storage room and sealed the door tight. The building was constructed during World War II. It had a bomb shelter.  
  
========================================  
  
  
"We are in launch mode."  
  
"Order has been confirmed."  
  
"I concur."  
  
"Insert keys."  
  
"Turn on the count of three... two.. one..."  
  
"Minuteman III systems go."  
  
"Launch."  
  
The silo in a Kansas cornfield slid its cover open. A blast plume announced the payload erupting slowly at first, and then it gathered speed as it gained altitude. One mile north, another silo popped open. Then another. Then another.  
  
========================================  
  
  
A small boy was walking with his father on the way to school outside of Kansas City Missouri. "What's that daddy? They look neat." He saw lines of smoke rising into the air all around them.  
  
The father, a retired Air Force mechanic watched the plumes rise into the air. He stood in horror as he realized what they were. "Oh, FUCK ME!" He grabbed his son and ran as fast as he could home. He knew they had only thirty minutes or less to live.  
  
"Daddy? What's fuck?"  
  
========================================  
  
In the western pacific, off the coast of China, an Ohio class submarine was given orders straight from the Vice-President. Honolulu had been hit. They were given orders to fire their entire payload of Trident missiles at China. The coordinates were fed directly into the missiles targeting computers and the sub went to launch depth. The captain made a silent prayer and confirmed the order. He had heard that China was going to invade Taiwan, but didn't think the U.S. was going to use a nuclear strike to defend it.  
  
The captain sat in silence as all the missiles, one by one, left their silos. Once the tubes were empty, he gave command to the sub to his first officer and went to his cabin. He pulled out a picture of his family. They lived in Honolulu. He pulled out his sidearm and joined his family.  
  
The captain didn't know that only half the missiles went to China. The rest were retargeted to Japan and Taiwan.  
  
========================================  
  
Russian defense was working overtime. They were in panic since one of their field commanders had launched twenty-two SS-18 and five SS-19 missiles at the United States. All communication lines were cut from headquarters and the regional commander. They didn't know the lines were under control from someone else.  
  
The radar map showed over one hundred American ICBM launches from bases in Europe and the northern U.S. "May our children forgive us." He gave the order to strike back.  
  
========================================  
  
Los Angeles California, small vans were driving along the congested freeways. Precisely timed, all the vans driven by white skinned cloaked men wheeled over to the side of the road and over three thousand small mortars were launched carrying VX nerve gas.   
  
Mamoru heard popping sounds outside his hotel window. It sounded like fireworks were going off all over the city. He went to the window and saw a small cloud of smoke over the small outdoor shopping mall below. He glanced at the people below and saw them fall over in an expanding circle.  
  
Mamoru felt a sense of danger and transformed into Tuxedo Mask. He ran to the bathroom and turned on the hot water in the tub. He shut and locked the bathroom door and shoved a wet towel under the door. He had heard of what a chemical attack would look like and he was not taking any chances. He dunked his top hat into the water in the tub and used it as a poor man's gas mask. He jumped into the tub and submerged his body. He hoped it would be enough.  
  
In a span of three hours, 90% of the population, human or otherwise died a horrible slow toxic death. This was repeated in numerous South American cities with high population densities.  
  
  
Los Angeles was special. The city was spared a nuclear attack for a reason. The survivors were going to face a new nightmare soon.  
  
========================================  
  
Usagi was reading the latest issue of her favorite manga. Her communicator beeped. She ignored it for a few minutes. "Ok, Ok, I'm here, what's so important?"  
  
Sailor Mercury was on the line. She was totally angry that Moon took so long to answer. "Transform to Sailor Moon. Come over to my place RIGHT NOW!"  
  
"Huh? What gives?" An air raid siren started its shrill call across the city of Tokyo.  
  
"No time to talk. Get Luna and come here NOW! No excuses Moon!" She cut off the signal.  
  
"Man, I can't have any time to myself. Luna!" Usagi took a minute looking around for Luna.  
  
"Usagi! Come down here!" Usagi's mother sounded frantic. Usagi went downstairs and found her family huddled in front of the TV.  
  
"They just bombed New York City!" Shingo had a look of horror on his face.   
  
"What does that mean? What's going on?" Usagi didn't really listen to her brother. She was busy looking for Luna.  
  
Usagi's dad was stone faced, "Russia and the U.S. are blowing each other up! It started when the U.S. president was assassinated. It's really crazy."  
  
"What does that have anything to do with us?" Usagi saw Luna. She was with her parents watching the TV.  
  
"WHAT! Are you blind Usagi! Millions of people just died in the last few minutes!" Shingo was amazed at how clueless his sister can be sometimes.  
  
Usagi just froze at that thought. She was told how bad the end of the world was but to actually see it happen was another matter entirely. Luna nudged against Usagi and made a meow. Luna then started pushing Usagi out of the room. Her family didn't notice her leaving; they were focused on the TV.  
  
"We have to group with the others." Luna said.  
  
"I was looking for you Luna, Mercury told me to go to her place with you." Usagi spoke very slowly; she couldn't accept what was happening around her. The air raid siren started again.  
  
Luna jumped on Usagi and placed her paws on her face, "Transform and let's get to Mercury's house."  
  
Usagi ran outside and behind a bush, transformed into Sailor Moon and ran with Luna on her back as fast as she could. She blocked out the sound of the air raid siren from her mind.  
  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
The International space station's crew saw a flash on Earth. They went to the cabin windows and saw another flash on Earth, this time in Canada. The Commander got on the comlink. "Houston, we have seen what appeared to be a large asteroid impact in Canada. Houston, come in."  
  
Another flash appeared, this time in Texas. An astronaut by window turned to the commander, "Sir, that was Houston."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Moon was running at top speed to Mercury's house. Everywhere she went, she saw the panicked faces of people running everywhere. There was complete chaos in the streets. She was in hell. Numerous people tried to flag down Sailor Moon. Some mothers tried to give her their children in a desperate attempt to have them escape the city. Traffic accidents were on every block. People were fighting over meaningless things. The police were nowhere to be found, they had abandoned their posts to be with their families.  
  
Sailor Moon just wanted to go home, jump into bed, and pretend this was not happening. She couldn't help them. She just kept running. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. She had to go on. Luna depended on her. The Sailor Scouts needed her. She had to make it. She thought of Mamoru. She hoped he was safe.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ryoga was helping Akari feed the pigs. Usually Ryoga just wanted to be as far from any pork product as possible. Now, he had Mrs. Akari Hibiki with him and the last week has been the happiest he has even been in his entire life. She playfully waved a bucket of water at Ryoga and splashed it at him. He dodged and dumped his bucket on Akari who got soaked. They laughed and walked hand in hand to the well. Ryoga sat on the edge of the well while Akari lowered a bucket inside.  
  
Grandfather heard a distant air raid siren go off and turned on the TV to see what was going on. The news reports kept coming in as if a nightmare was being lived out in a compressed form. The newscaster was noticeably looking anxious and frustrated when he was being handed news reports every few seconds. "Israel launched Jericho missiles at its neighbors. Kansas City, Houston and Dallas were hit with nuclear weapons. This just in, Beijing was hit with a nuclear bomb. Chemical weapon attack has occurred in Los Angeles. Zaire has attacked Congo with ground troops. Poison gas attack in Chechnya. Nuclear strikes have been confirmed in Moscow, London, Paris, Mexico City and Yokohama."  
  
Yokohama! Grandfather realized what that meant. Those idiots were shooting at every major city and not just each other. That was why the air raid sirens were going off. Grandfather thought, they were far from Tokyo, but not far enough. He heard a rumbling. He went to the window and looked in the direction of Yokohama. He saw darkness in the sky. It was not a natural darkness.  
  
Grandfather ran to the back door. "Akari! Ryoga! Get inside RIGHT NOW!" The suddenness of Grandfathers actions and the sheer volume of grandfathers voice startled Ryoga and he fell backwards into the well. A splash later, P-Chan was swimming at the bottom. Akari bent over the well wall, "Oh Ryoga, I'll get you out. Be more careful." She released the winch and dropped the bucket to the bottom of the well. P-Chan swam aside to avoid the bucket from hitting him on the head.  
  
P-Chan looked up to the silhouette of his wife and saw a flash. She was gone. P-Chan's eyes were blinded and he dove under the water to help ease the pain he felt. An earth-shattering boom reverberated and an earthquake hit the well. The top of the well got sealed off and it went dark. P-Chan went unconscious.  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ranma and Akane already had gotten the message from Mercury and transformed into Sailors Sun and Io. Sun beamed the two of them to Mercury's place. Traffic was jammed so Sun beamed herself to the home of the Outers and had to shuttle each one to Mercury's home to get them there quickly.  
  
The other Inners arrived on foot except for Sailor Moon. Sailor Mars was frustrated, "It figures that she would be late in this time of crisis."  
  
Pluto suggested the plan. "We've got to go somewhere safe and ride this out. We are no good to anyone if we're dead."  
  
All the other Senshi froze at the thought that they were not safe in Juuban. "Where can we go?"  
  
Sun thought about it. "My space station! It's orbiting the sun and there is no way they could reach it to blow it up."  
  
Jupiter agreed, "That's the perfect place. Let's go!"  
  
Mars interjected, "We need Moon for us to be able to teleport."  
  
"Take my daughter!" Neptune shoved Saturn towards Sun.  
  
"O.K. You first." Sun grabbed Saturn and beamed out.  
  
"Thank you." Sailor Neptune whispered. She was happy that her daughter is now safe.  
  
In a moment, Sun appeared, "Who's next?" She jumped Neptune who was the closest to her and beamed out again.  
  
Mercury was amazed, "That was quick. It takes light eight minutes to travel to the sun. She can travel faster than light!"  
  
Pluto looked at the crowd, "Sun is more powerful than all of us combined. She just doesn't know it yet. It will take decades of training to fully use her powers."  
  
  
The others were impressed, they knew Sun was powerful, but they thought she had already reached her peak.  
  
Mars was impatient, "Where's Moon?"  
  
Outside, there was a flash on the horizon. It was very far away, but there was no doubt as to what it was.  
  
"Oh, my god!" Venus put her hands over her mouth and started to tremble.  
  
Sun flashed in. "Next!" She grabbed Io and flashed out.  
  
"How many times can she do that?" Asked Jupiter.  
  
  
Uranus shrugged, "Io would know, too bad she just left."  
  
Moon huffed and puffed and stumbled into the room. She was distraught. Her eyes were glazed and she looked like a car had hit her. It looked like the car had backed up and finished the job.  
  
Mars took the initiative and grabbed Moon and Venus's hand. "Let's go!"  
  
Moon was in tears, "Go where?"  
  
Mars shouted, "Sailor Sun's space station. We have no time!"  
  
The other Inners formed the circle to do the Sailor teleport. Sun flashed in the middle of the circle. She was getting tired. She ducked under the girl's arms and grabbed Pluto by the leg and flashed out again.  
  
Luna and Artemis looked at each other. "Can you take us with you?" Luna was not thrilled about hitching a ride on Sailor Sun as much as Sailor Sun was not happy to be around cats.  
  
"Get in the circle." Venus gestured them over. Sailor Moon looked like a zombie, she had stared at the face of death. Mars yelled at Moon, "CONCENTRATE!" Moon closed her eyes and grimaced her face. Luna and Artemis jumped into the circle. Moon concentrated on Sailor Sun's space station. The scouts beamed out.  
  
The cats were left behind exactly where they were. "I guess that shoots down that idea." Artemis gulped. A thunderclap was heard. Faint, but noticeable, it came from the horizon in the direction of the flash.  
  
Uranus was getting very nervous. Sun had been gone for a long time. Sailor Sun flashed in and then fell over onto the floor. "Great." Uranus went over to Sun and slapped her. "Wake up!"  
  
Sun groaned, and opened her eyes. "Oh, yeah." She looked and saw the cats remaining without the other scouts. "Oh man."  
  
Sun stood up and used all of her courage. Those cats were members of the team. She had to keep control. She closed her eyes and held her arms out. "You two, get on me now!" Luna and Artemis glanced at each other as if this were a really bad idea.   
  
Uranus moved towards the cats, "You heard her! Get on board!"  
  
The two cats landed in Sun's outstretched arms and she held them tight. The look of panic on her face was obvious. She flashed out.  
  
"I hope she doesn't drop them somewhere along the way." Uranus worried.  
  
What seemed like an eternity, Uranus sat on Mercury's bed. Waiting for a rescue or a really big bang. A flash appeared and a very woozy Sailor Sun stood before her.  
  
"Ahh abod te boos" was all she could mutter. Uranus understood it meant to grab on. She did and they flashed out again.  
  
The door opened to the empty room and Ami's mother came in with a tray of cookies. She looked around the very messy room wondering where all of Ami's friends went. She looked out the window and saw the cloud far away. She had never felt more frightened before in her entire life.  
  
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"Wake up Sun!" Sailor Io had dragged the body of Sailor Sun to a nearby window. The glass was darkened so that the brightness of the sun wouldn't instantly blind anyone looking outside. The view of the sun was spectacular. Io had hoped that exposing Sun to sunlight would speed up her recovery from the teleportation she had done.  
  
"Hi Io, nice seeing you here." Sun felt energy flowing through her from her source of power. She got up and took a look around. She saw all the Senshi looking at her with deep concern. Sun had overexerted herself and they had hoped that it had not done any permanent harm.  
  
"Oh, O.K. We are all here." Sun regained her balance and stood up.  
  
Immediately all the inner Senshi begged for Sun to go back and rescue their families, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Io and Venus all at the same time pleaded for Sun to get their parents. Parents! Sun gave a look of surprise, "I'll be back in a minute." She flashed out.  
  
  
Moon collapsed in a heap, "Mamoru! Please be ok!"  
  
Uranus and Neptune were in a corner holding Saturn. Uranus saw the sadness and the hopelessness on the Inner's faces. Uranus felt blessed that her family was safe.  
  
Pluto sat in a corner sulking. She failed. She completely failed.  
  
  
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Ukyou heard the thunderclap. She froze in fear. Konatsu ran to the front of the restaurant and saw nothing. He stood outside and saw down the street a rising cloud in the direction of Yokohama. "Mistress, we need to hide."  
  
Ukyou saw that the TV was filled with static. The power went off. "What's happening?"  
  
Konatsu tossed off his kimono and was in a stealth ninja outfit complete with katana. "Mistress, we need to find shelter."  
  
Ukyou stood frozen in shock. She had no idea what to do. She thought of Ranma. She hoped that he was safe. Konatsu jumped the counter and snatched Ukyou and ran with her in his arms to the back room. He slammed the door and placed large cans of food to block it. He grabbed a flashlight, turned it on and left it on the shelf to give some light.  
  
Konatsu sat next to his frozen mistress. They both sat there in the darkness, waiting for who knows what.  
  
"Please, hold me." Ukyou begged.  
  
Konatsu held her.  
  
The room became white. It was over quickly.  
  
  
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Sailor Sun teleported into the courtyard of the Tendo dojo. She was very dizzy, and had to lean against the brick wall that bordered the property to keep from passing out. She looked around and regained her focus. She yelled out, "MOTHER!"  
  
"Ranma? Is that you?" Nodoka appeared in the second story window from her bedroom. She had a look of joy on her face.  
  
"Mom! Come to me NOW!" Sun started to walk to the house, she was out of energy to run. She knew she didn't have much time.  
  
A strobe light went off. Sun covered her eyes as the house brightened and caused her to lose her direction. She stood for a second and looked up seeing the upper floor of the house engulfed in flames. Her mother was not visible in the window anymore.  
  
"MOM!" Screamed Sun at the top of her lungs and with all her effort she started to move toward the house. A roar as if the hammer of god had just struck next door came crashing down and deafened Sailor Sun. She saw the upper floor of the house fly off and disintegrate in the howling wind. Sun was flattened to the ground by the pressure wave and everything went dark. "Forgive me."  
  
  
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Author's Notes: This was one of the most difficult chapters I had to write. Sadly, the weapons described in this chapter are real. We as human beings have created great works of art and beauty. We also have created things that the negaverse wished they had. Let us pray that this never really happens and stays a work of fiction.  
  
  
I will be taking a break of a few days since I need to spend extra time at my day job. I will update probably on the 16th.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 11, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	19. The Day After

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 18 The Day After  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
The Sailor Senshi was getting worried for Sailor Sun. She had teleported to Earth and hadn't come back in over a minute. She usually only took fifteen seconds to teleport, grab someone and return.  
  
Sailor Io felt something in her soul. She gave a look of pure terror and placed her hands on her face and screamed, "DAD! NABIKI! NOOOOOOO!!!" She then dropped to her knees and sobbed. The other Senshi backed away from Io as she bowed to the ground and started beating the floor with her fist. "NO! NO! NO!" Io curled into a ball and fell over loudly distraught and in total anguish.  
  
Venus went over to Io to comfort her. Io didn't even notice her holding her shoulder. Io shrank further and further clutching her knees to her chest. Venus was overcome by emotion and wept alongside Io for the pain she was suffering from. Venus was deathly afraid for her family as well.  
  
Sailor Moon hadn't moved from her spot since the girls teleported to the space station. She was almost in a coma, totally dazed and still wishing that this were a dream she would soon awaken from. She wanted so much to be in Mamoru's arms and being just a normal girl in a normal life.  
  
Sailor Jupiter didn't have any family to speak of other than the Senshi. She was thinking of their missing member, "Sun is taking a little long to get back isn't she?"  
  
Mars was worried too; she was sitting on the floor worrying about her own family. "I hope she's alright."   
  
Uranus heard the conversation and left Saturn and Neptune to go to the other Senshi, "I think she may have passed out. She was really tired when she brought me here. I had to slap her to wake her to get Luna and Artemis here."  
  
Mars was not comforted with that thought, "I hope that she's just late." Mars didn't want to even think that Sun could have been caught in some sort trouble. Mars outright rejected the idea that Tokyo got hit with a bomb while Sun was there. She would have felt her father or grandfather's pain if it had happened. Mars heard another sob from Io. That brought reality crashing down on her hope. "Where did Sun go?"  
  
Jupiter thought about where did Sun have family, "Didn't she have a mother in Nerima... Oh no!" It dawned on Jupiter that Io's family shared the same home as Sun's mother. "Io, your family is in Nerima. Isn't it?"  
  
Io was not listening. She was in a fetal position stricken with grief. Jupiter and Mars bowed their heads and held each other. They hoped beyond hope that Sun was all right.  
  
  
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The wind started to die down and reversed direction to northern Tokyo. The wind picked up speed and pulled debris toward the rising fireball above ground zero. Sailor Sun held her arms over her head in an attempt save herself from injury. She forced herself deeper into the koi pond using the water as a shield but she was running out of time. She could only hold her breath for two minutes and she already starting to turn blue.  
  
Sun burst out of the pond, took a breath and went back under hoping that a house wouldn't fall on her. Minutes passed that felt like hours before the wind finally died down. Sun noticed the sound of the wind had diminished from under the water and finally raised her head to take a look around.  
  
What she saw was a scene from hell. The sky was filled with thick black smoke and city around her was glowing red from the thousands of fires that burned everywhere. The stone wall surrounding the Tendo residence was shattered with only little stubs here and there remaining. The house was only about one and a half meters tall. Everything above that was ripped off and taken away by the shock wave. The garden was scorched and small fires dotted the ground. The shadow of the wall surrounding the residence was what spared the lowest part of the house from instant incineration when the bomb went off.  
  
Sun slowly got up, shook her head and rubbed her ears. Her eardrums felt a throbbing since the volume of the explosion almost made her deaf. She started limping toward the remains of the house. She could feel that her leg was broken. Each step was filled with pain and agony, but she kept limping to the house. She had to know her mother's fate. She found a burnt thick piece of wood and picked it up and used it as a crutch. She paused to regain her balance and continued her agonizing journey.  
  
She finally made it to the area that was once the dining room. All the furniture was missing. Sun looked up to where her mother's room was. She had begun to cry. She knew that her mother was dead. She didn't have to see the body. Her Senshi senses and her soul confirmed what she saw in those last crucial seconds. Sun leaned against her crutch and cried.  
  
She was sobbing for over fifteen minutes. Going over and over in her head of how could she have prevented this. Why didn't she have her mother live with her in Juuban? Why didn't she get her while they were waiting for Sailor Moon to arrive? Why didn't she train harder so she wouldn't have passed out when she took Uranus to her station? Why? Why? Why?  
  
Sun still hadn't gotten over the death of her father. Now her mother was dead. She was an orphan. She had no family anymore. She just stood there taking it all in. She didn't want accept that her mother was gone. She gritted her teeth so hard that she almost shattered them. In a sudden movement she stared in the sky and screamed loud enough to wake the dead, "AAARRRGGGHHH!"  
  
She screamed for a minute. Sailor Sun took a deep breath. She thought of her wife Sailor Io. She remembered she still had family. She paused and looked around the ruins. She felt a presence in the area, a human presence. She thought she was imagining things. No one could have survived. Sun thought, "I survived."  
  
Sun followed her senses. It led her to the remains of the kitchen. The floor was completely covered with burnt foodstuffs and broken dishes that fell from the kitchen counters. Sun saw a lump in the ashes and reached over to touch it. It felt firm and warm. Sun cast aside her crutch and fell next to the lump and started removing debris. It was under the kitchen counter that had shifted onto the floor. Carefully, she used all her Senshi enhanced strength to gently move the counter off the lump and cast it aside. She tried to pull a piece of fabric away and found that someone was wearing it. "Uhhhh..." Came from the body.  
  
"Kasumi?" Sun asked. She was hardly recognizable, she had the right side of her body covered with burns and her dress was seared to her flesh. Sun tried to hold back her nausea at the sight of innocent Kasumi in this condition. Kasumi by some miracle had survived, but without medical attention, she was a goner.  
  
Sun barely had any energy left for a teleport. She focused all of her energy and concentrated on the space station. She gently held Kasumi and invoked her spell, "Sun Beam Transport!"  
  
  
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Jupiter was wearing a hole in the station floor with her nervous pacing. Sun had been gone for far too long and Io had only just now stopped weeping. Io was a total wreck. Moon finally sat down but was still in a zombie like state. Pluto was a lost cause. Mars was following Jupiter in the pacing contest to see who can log the most kilometers in a circle.  
  
A flash appeared in the center of the main lobby of the space station and two people appeared. Mars and Jupiter quickly ran to see Sailor Sun and stopped just before they got there. Both girls gave out a scream when they saw Kasumi.  
  
Sun was barely able to talk, "P-P-Please get Saturn here..." Sun fell unconscious.  
  
Jupiter fainted, she couldn't believe what she saw was Kasumi. Mars almost fell over as well, but she was able to stagger over to Saturn and call her over. Uranus got to Kasumi first and gasped. She turned to intercept Saturn. "Saturn, please close your eyes."  
  
Saturn stopped; Uranus intentionally blocked her view of the two fallen girls. Uranus begged, "Please, don't look. Can you heal without looking?"  
  
Saturn said, "I... I don't know."  
  
Uranus took another look at Kasumi. She saw Sailor Sun's unnaturally bent leg. She debated in her mind if she should let her daughter see the sight on the floor. She turned to face Saturn. "She needs you to heal her. She is hurt really bad."  
  
Saturn could see in Uranus's eyes that the injuries must have been terrible. Saturn didn't know if she could do it. She didn't really know Sailor Sun or her friend but she didn't want to let anyone down. "I want to help."  
  
Uranus let go of her daughter and dropped her hands. Saturn walked around her parent and held back a scream. She saw that the tall girl that Sun had brought was almost dead. The injury was nothing like anything she had ever seen. The right side of her body from the head to the waist had second and third degree burns. Her clothes were melted into her skin and she hardly looked human. The left side of her was perfectly normal. If she were standing from the left side, you would have thought that Kasumi was perfectly healthy.  
  
Saturn kneeled next to Kasumi and laid her hands on the right side of her chest. "Uhh..." Kasumi moved a little. Saturn felt sick at the touch of the gooey skin. She had to be careful since the skin wanted to peel off in her hands. She healed a small area of skin and moved a few centimeters and began healing again. A smell like a burnt steak finally touched Saturn's nose and she pulled back. It was terrible.  
  
"Please save her." Sailor Io was kneeling next to Saturn. "She is my sister. She is all I have left."  
  
Saturn saw the look on Io's face as she was kneeling over her injured sister. "I'll try." Saturn got more courage from seeing the despair in Io's eyes and placed her hands on Kasumi's face. She couldn't let her die with the face she had at this moment.  
  
Io saw her sister's face slowly restore to the sister she had. She managed a smile, a smile of hope.  
  
Sailor Sun rolled over away from Kasumi. She grimaced her face and kicked her leg back into place. "OW!" The Senshi healing magic of her Sailor fuku was already working healing her body. She lay face down on the floor barely conscious. She felt a body lay next to her. Io whispered to Sun, "Thank you."  
  
Io didn't know what else to say to Sun. She didn't return with her mother and she didn't seem to be in a hurry to return to Earth. Io knew what this meant and closed her eyes and hugged Sun.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
  
Several hours had passed since Tuxedo Mask jumped into the bathtub. It had been very quiet, too quiet. He finally came up out of the water and removed his top hat from his face. He didn't breathe any air, but he opened his eyes expecting them to feel pain. There was no pain. He took a breath and the air seemed normal.  
  
He got out of the tub and fumbled around in the dark bathroom. Sometime ago, the power went out and plunged the bathroom into darkness. He took his soaking wet form over to the bathroom door and put his ear to it. He heard very distant sounds but nothing nearby. He dropped to the floor and slowly pulled away the towel that blocked the air from entering under the door. He smelled the air from the other side and felt no ill effects.  
  
He cleared the door and slowly opened it. The room was dark since it was now late in the evening and the sun had already gone down. He went into his bedroom and tried to turn on the TV. There was no power anywhere. He went to the window and took a look outside. The view was right out of the twilight zone. The city of Los Angeles lay before him but no activity of any kind was visible. The freeways were devoid of traffic; all the lights of the city were turned off. Only the moon gave any illumination anywhere in the city. It was if the city died in the last five hours.   
  
Tuxedo Mask transformed to Mamoru and back into Tuxedo Mask again. The transformation gave him a new set of dry clothes but didn't correct the fact that his skin had pruned for being in water for so long. He went over to the phone to call Usagi. The line was dead. He went to his suitcase and got his Senshi communicator. He turned it on and dialed Usagi's number. The communicator displayed the message, "Number not in service."  
  
"Where could she be?" Asked Tuxedo Mask. He heard gunfire in the city. He made a quick gaze and saw a tiny flash from several kilometers away. Gunfire, good or bad, meant that someone else was alive. He had to find the survivors and find a way home. Tuxedo Mask breathed a small sigh of relief. He was so happy Chibi Usa was back in the 30th century. A little girl like that should never see what he was witnessing right now.  
  
  
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Shampoo lay in the darkness terrified. The horrible thunderclap and the resulting sound coming from the Cat Cafe above made her shrivel up and hope that Ranma would come to rescue her. Cologne was meditating in another corner and Mousse was hugging a Shampoo sized statue. They all sat in the darkness for several hours before Mousse fumbled around and found a flashlight. He turned it on and put his glasses on.  
  
"Shampoo, are you ok?" He went over to Shampoo and held the light away from her eyes but close enough so they can see. Shampoo was sitting scared, like a little girl. Shampoo got a very good look at Mousse's face. He truly was concerned for her. She looked away. She didn't want to give in to him despite the fact that deep down inside, she knew that he was the one she was destined for. Her stubbornness was what kept denying the fact that Ranma was never hers. Mousse was just as stubborn as she was. He would wait forever if need be for Shampoo.  
  
Shampoo cracked a smile. She held Mousse and spoke in Chinese, "I am O.K. Thank you for worrying about me."  
  
  
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Kasumi groaned. She was in a large beautiful bed in what appeared to be a futuristic room. She saw a window that had a view of outer space. Sitting next to her were two girls, one on each side of her, dressed in mini-skirts and white leotards.  
  
"What happened? Where am I?" Kasumi instinctively touched her face. It was perfect. She felt that her clothes were a little tight on her and saw she was wearing a Juuban High School girl's dress. She pulled up her right sleeve and looked at her right arm and saw that it was healthy. She thought that she must have been having a strange dream. She glanced at both of the two girls sitting next to her. "Who are you?"  
  
Sailor Io gulped. She didn't know if she should speak. Sailor Sun did it for her, "Kasumi."  
  
Kasumi turned to Sailor Sun. "Yes?"  
  
Sailor Sun turned her face away, "Are you ok?"  
  
"I think so. I need to cook dinner. Can you take me home?" Kasumi smiled.  
  
Sailor Io started to cry. She didn't move from her chair. Far in a corner, Sailor Saturn was peeking at this reunion.  
  
Kasumi looked at the crying Sailor Io. "Why are you crying?" From behind her, she heard more tears. She turned to Sailor Sun who was sniffing. "Was it something I said?"  
  
Sailor Sun saw that Io was breaking down. She decided to break the news, "Kasumi."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Do you remember what happened? What was the last thing you remember?" Sun touched her hand.  
  
"I was in the kitchen making dinner for father when there was a bright light." Kasumi was beginning to think this was not a dream.  
  
"Do you remember anything else after that?"  
  
Kasumi thought about it but she felt like it was a memory she didn't want to remember. "No, not really."  
  
Sun glanced at Io who was finally regaining her composure. "Nerima was hit with a bomb. Your house was destroyed. I'm sorry."  
  
"Oh, that's ok. I'll have the carpenter come by and fix our home. It's not the first time." Kasumi smiled. She looked at her clothes again. "Odd. Where is my apron?"  
  
"Kasumi, there is no carpenter anymore. The entire city was destroyed." Sun continued trying to get Kasumi to understand what really happened.  
  
"Oh my." That was all she could say about that.  
  
"I've got terrible news."  
  
Kasumi lost her smile. Her eyes glazed over.  
  
Sun hesitated. She looked down at the bed. "I'm afraid that your father..." Sun couldn't say it.  
  
"No." Kasumi took it in. She fell back on the bed and closed her eyes. "Father..."  
  
Sun tried to finish her sentence, "And Nabiki..."  
  
Kasumi clenched her eyes and shrank her face. She was filled with grief. After a moment she opened her empty lifeless eyes, "Akane?"  
  
"I'm here." Io whispered.  
  
Kasumi regained a smile and sat up and looked around the room. Io forgot that her Senshi disguise magic prevented Kasumi from recognizing her. Even though Sailor Io looked just like Akane in a Sailor Senshi uniform, Kasumi didn't see her. "Where is Akane?"  
  
Io took Kasumi's hand and looked into her eyes. "I'm right here."  
  
Kasumi gazed into Io's eyes in return. She could barely see her. She noticed that this girl resembled Akane but she didn't make the association. "Akane?"  
  
She nodded her head. "Yes, It's me."  
  
"That is such a cute outfit." Kasumi once again regained her glow.  
  
"Thank you." Io blushed.  
  
"Why are you dressed like that?"  
  
"Uh..." Io decided that she would confess to her only living relative, "I am a Sailor Scout. My name is Sailor Io."  
  
"Oh, how nice." Kasumi gave a thought, "Where is Ranma?"  
  
"Uh... He's ok." Io blew her cover, she didn't want to blow Sun's.  
  
Kasumi had another thought. "Happosai? Where is he?"  
  
Sun and Io shot glances at each other. Neither had even a single thought about his fate. "That freak of nature will probably outlive us all." Said a frustrated Sailor Sun.  
  
Kasumi took pause at that statement. She slowly turned to look at Sun, "Ranma?"  
  
Sun slowly nodded her head.  
  
"How did you? Are you both..." Kasumi turned her head back and forth looking at the two Senshi.  
  
"Yes, we are both Sailor Senshi." Io said.  
  
"Oh, how wonderful." Kasumi beamed. She then slowly dropped her smile and softly sulked. She didn't know what was going to become of her.  
  
Sailor Io reached for her sister and gave her a tight embrace. Sun embraced both girls together. They gave their collective blessings to each other and held out some hope that things will turn out somehow.  
  
Saturn cracked a smile from her hiding place. She was happy that the Senshi of destruction could also be the Senshi of healing. "Instead of being a nurse, I'm going to be a doctor."  
  
  
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Ryoga awoke in a pool of warm water. He was completely encased in darkness. He fumbled around and found his clothes. He got dressed and started to climb up. He hit the ceiling and found himself trapped.  
  
He had thought about how he got here. Wasn't the well water supposed to be cold? He started to dig and the soft earth fell easily. After thirty minutes he climbed about five meters until he hit hard stone. He used his breaking point technique, "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" He smashed the stone of the well wall and saw the night sky. He climbed out of the well and noticed that it wasn't night. It was dark from and massive amount of smoke in the air above him. There was plenty of light around him from all the fires everywhere. He turned to the farmhouse and saw that it was gone. The entire farm was gone. It was completely swept away as if it were never there.  
  
Ryoga sat down. He gazed at the spot where Akari stood and saw what he needed to see. On the stone wall was a shadow of the lower half of Akari. The shadow was backwards. The wall was scorched everywhere except where Akari stood. Ryoga stood up and ripped the section of the well wall off and gently laid it on the ground. He could feel her presence. He touched the unburned area of the wall and shed a tear. He lay there on top of what little trace of Akari's existence there was left on this Earth. He missed her. He lay there for over an hour.  
  
He knew it was too good to be true. He knew it must have been a dream. He was finally awake now. He searched the wreckage and found his backpack and umbrella. He found some canned goods and other supplies and filled his backpack. He walked down the path to the main road. He stopped and looked at the foundation of the farmhouse. He thought, "Thank you Akari. You have shown me true happiness. More happiness than I ever deserved." He paused, "I loved you."  
  
He walked down the road. He didn't know where he was going or what he was going to do. He was awake. He went back to his old life.  
  
He was going to get lost.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: I lied. Here is the next chapter. Based on the encouragement I got from some readers, I am putting up this chapter. I am happy that you are enjoying my tale so far.  
  
I got a note from a reader. I have no clue why the reader thought that there was a Ranko/Ryoga relationship planned. Ranma has Akane and she is ok. Ryoga has a different path he must follow.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 13, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	20. The Streets of Los Angeles

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 19 The Streets of Los Angeles  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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"REPORT: PHASE III COMPLETE. HUMAN CASUALTIES ARE ABOVE PREDICTED AMOUNTS. HUMANS REGROUPING."  
  
"COMMAND: EXECUTE PHASE IV. SECURE ISLAND OF TAIWAN. SECURE LOS ANGELES BASIN. MAINTAIN COMMUNICATION DISRUPTION. MAINTAIN INSTIGATING HUMAN INTER-CONFLICTS."  
  
  
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The sun was about to set. A gunshot rang out. It was closer this time. Another weapon fired, this time it was a machine gun that kept firing for several seconds before it fell silent again.  
  
Tuxedo Mask jumped to the rooftop and hopped to the next building. He was close now to the people firing the weapons. He felt the presence of a group of people ahead. He approached carefully since he didn't know if they were friendly or hostile.  
  
He heard shouts from over the roof he was on. "Fall back! Johnson, take cover! There! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" A sound of automatic gunfire came from right under the building he was on. The building shook as a jeep smashed through a window directly below him and drove down the street. He saw the jeep dodge the crashed cars that littered the road. The men in the jeep were driving away like a maniac from something.   
  
The sound of electric motors whirring came from where the jeep once was. Tuxedo Mask moved from his perch to look directly below. There he saw three vaguely human shaped T-70 robots. Very crude in design, reddish brown in color with belt fed machine guns mounted on their right arms. They spoke not a word. All three aimed their weapons at the escaping jeep and opened fire. The sound was deafening and Tuxedo Mask held his ears to block out the loud noise.  
  
The jeep turned a corner and escaped. Two of the robots ran to give chase. They went at a pace of a brisk walk and didn't seem to have the ability to jump. They walked around the dead bodies on the sidewalk. He watched the two run off and turn the corner to follow the jeep. He looked down again and saw the remaining robot standing in place turning its head slowly from side to side as if it were searching for something.  
  
Tuxedo Mask slowly crept up the rooftop to avoid this thing. Obviously it was an enemy of the United States military, so it was something to be avoided. Tuxedo Mask jumped several rooftops to try to chase down the jeep. The men in that jeep had some answers. He wanted those answers.  
  
He followed the sound of brakes screeching and a motor's acceleration. He guessed that the jeep was going to turn back and follow a much wider highway that he could see straight ahead. He got into a position to leap into the road and as if on cue, the jeep came around a smashed bus and drove down the six-lane highway below. Tuxedo Mask saw a seat in the back of the jeep that was empty and jumped down into it.  
  
He landed in the seat and held on for dear life. Private Johnson turned to his new traveling companion, "Just who the hell are you?"  
  
"I am..." was all he could utter before his head hit the driver's seat when the jeep skidded to a stop. The driver shifted into reverse while the Corporal in the front passenger seat opened fire with his M-16 at a white rubber skinned man directly in front of them.  
  
"DOWN!!" All three soldiers ducked their heads as a hail of machine gun fire was returned from the white rubber skinned man. The driver held his head down and hit the accelerator. He twitched the steering wheel to evade the gunfire and spun the jeep around. He shifted into second and gunned the engine.  
  
"Johnson, check if LAX is under attack." The Corporal ordered, he turned to Tuxedo Mask and exclaimed, "Say what?" The Corporal was too busy to deal with him. He looked human, so for now he wasn't a threat, right now he was dealing with pasty white mannequins or junkyard rejects.  
  
Private Johnson pulled out his radio mike and called the base. There was a lot of static on the line. There was a lot of radio jamming in the area. The base reported that they are waiting for them and all was quiet.  
  
"Tell them we are coming in and coming in hot. Have them load up for bear."   
  
Johnson repeated the order.   
  
The driver turned another corner hard, he almost lost control since he hit a water puddle from a broken fire hydrant. He regained control and sped straight down another wide street. "Corporal, ETA is LAX in one minute via Century Blvd."  
  
"Johnson, tell Miller we should move out. We're approaching from Century."  
  
Johnson sent the message. He turned to look behind them; it looked like they ditched the robots. He sized up Tuxedo Mask, "Who the hell are you?"  
  
Tuxedo Mask was nursing the bump on his head, "I am Tuxedo Mask, champion of Love and Justice. I protect the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Moon."  
  
Johnson just stared and pointed his sidearm at him. He wasn't taking any chances. He sighed, "Oh great, the VX gas must have had some serious side effects."  
  
Corporal Gonzalez stared at him as well, he mumbled, "You've got to be kidding me. Is he one too?"  
  
  
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Sailor Mercury was repairing Sailor Sun's computer system. The antenna needed to be reset to radio frequencies being using on Earth in the current century. They were all set to frequencies used during the moon kingdom. The Scouts were dying to know if the bombing had stopped and if it was safe to return to Earth. Sailor Venus was demanding for Sun to go to Earth and move her family to a safe location.   
  
The question that was on everyone's mind was. Where was it safe? They didn't know if somehow one of the governments on Earth may have found the station and a missile could be on it's way at this very moment. They couldn't beam everyone out in time if that was the case.  
  
Sailor Moon just sat on her knees in a trancelike state. She had been that way for the entire time she had been here. Io, Saturn and Sun were on the lower deck with Io's sister. Pluto was pacing around but she wouldn't talk to anyone.  
  
All the other Senshi were gathered around Mercury hoping for her to get the communication system online. They were all starved for any news from Earth. The monitor flickered and a TV broadcast was being received. Mercury lifted her head and bumped it on the desk. "Ouch!"  
  
Jupiter rushed to Mercury's aid, "Be careful."  
  
"Thanks." Mercury sat at the console and typed in channel codes. "Now, everyone, remember that what we are seeing is delayed by about seven and a half minutes. Speed of light does that you know." She banged a few more keys and got a CNN feed from Las Vegas.  
  
The CNN announcer was in front of the Las Vegas convention center. There were thousands of tents behind him. "There is a nationwide fallout alert. Please, do not go outside unless absolutely necessary and limit any exposure to outside dust. Take iodide tablets to limit iodide radiation absorption. Do not handle metal objects, they could be exposed to radiation. Here are the cities that have set up refugee centers, Las Vegas Nevada, Cheyenne Wyoming, Boise Idaho, Nashville Tennessee, and Oceanside California."  
  
Hearing the list of city names that had survived the holocaust gave the scouts a sense of hope.   
  
Mercury adjusted the antenna to receive signals from eastern Asia. "Odd, Taiwan is totally silent. I'm not even getting ham radio signals." She turned to Japan. "Now checking Japan." Venus was more impatient for local news, "Mercury, can you tune in NNN24?"  
  
"I'll try, but don't get your hopes up. If Tokyo was hit or the power is out then they won't be broadcasting." Mercury finished her antenna adjustments and got the Japanese islands and set the frequency to channel twenty-four.  
  
NNN24 broadcasted, "Relief efforts are currently underway in the northern Tokyo area and the city of Yokohama. The death toll stands at fifteen million estimated casualties across the nation of Japan. Please avoid the cities of Kyoto and Osaka."  
  
Mercury was overjoyed at the news. The other scouts looked at her as if she had gone insane. "Let me explain, they are transmitting from Tokyo near Juuban. That means my mom is probably ok!"  
  
Venus held back tears of joy, "You mean Juuban is all right?"  
  
Mercury needed to clarify things, "Well it's all right enough for them to be sending a television signal. Now, they might not have power. You see, they could be using a their own generator and hoping people are getting the signal from battery powered televisions or radios. However, there is something very wrong here."  
  
The scouts gave a collective worried expression. Mercury continued, "Every station I can get is only through a direct connection. The satellites seem to be transmitting military orders. All I hear are troop movement and orders to attack people. None of the TV satellites are sending actual TV signals. It's like they are under military control."  
  
Mercury changed her focus, "This means that in about ten hours I'm going to lose the signal to Japan since the Earth will rotate and I won't be able to see Japan anymore. Normally, I can just bounce the signal from satellites so that isn't a problem. So, for now, any signal I get from Earth will have to be during daylight hours."  
  
"Daylight?" Several Scouts turned and looked downward in the direction of where Sailor Sun was. Uranus walked off to fetch her. "I'll get her."  
  
  
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Sailors Sun, Saturn and Io were talking to Kasumi about their lives as Sailor Senshi. Kasumi was told the whole story of how Akane survived in Solitude and then was given the honor of becoming a Senshi. Sun of course bragged that she was the savior of all mankind and that the Senshi would be nothing without her. Io gave the customary mallet to her head for that last remark. Saturn just enjoyed the company. She really wanted to get to know Sun and Io. She was happy to have more friends.  
  
Uranus came down the stairs into Sun's bedroom on the station, "Break time is over Sun. Time to get to work."  
  
Sun smiled to Kasumi and Io, "See, they need me." She got up and followed Uranus back up the stairs.  
  
Io gave a small hug to her sister, "I've got to go too. My duty calls me."  
  
Kasumi held her hand up with a 'V' for victory sign. She gave a big smile and watched her sister run off to fight for Love and Justice.  
  
Saturn asked, "So, what's Ranko and Akane REALLY like?"  
  
"Ranko? Tee hee." Kasumi giggled.  
  
  
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Uranus instructed, "We need to see if it's safe for some of us to return to Earth. The news is sketchy so we need you to go on reconnaissance."  
  
Sun was not thrilled about going back to Earth. Her talk with Kasumi allowed her for a moment to forget her losses. Now she fell into a state of depression. She forced herself to remember that her duty to the team came first and stood up straight. "Where shall I go first?"  
  
Mercury jumped in, "Juuban hospital, contact my mother, she is Dr. Mizuno."  
  
Sun may have been ignorant, but she did have some functioning brain cells, "Uh... Mercury, the city was hit with a really big bomb. The hospital is going to be a madhouse."  
  
"That's why I'm going with you!" Mercury then grabbed Sun and held her tight.   
  
Sun closed her eyes and thought about the hospital. She had seen it before so she didn't need a map. "You have no idea what I've seen."  
  
Io got wide eyed, "Sun! Don't!"  
  
Sun didn't want to go. She called out, "Sun Beam Transport!" In an instant Sun and Mercury disappeared.  
  
  
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Juuban Secondary General Hospital was organized chaos. The entire parking lot was cleared of cars and makeshift tents were erected and thousands of cots were strewn with patients. A small group of men wearing protective clothing and surgical masks had the grim task of carrying away the dead into a waiting trash truck. There was a fine mist of ash falling from the sky. Everyone tried to avoid contact with it, but it got into everything. Numerous police and fireman were sealing off the open slats of the multi-story parking garage a block away to keep the fallout out. The Japanese military were busy moving more cots into the parking garage.  
  
At the front steps to the hospital, two Sailor Senshi beamed in. Mercury felt a little dizzy. Sun held her up, "Don't worry, you'll feel fine in a minute, let's go."  
  
In seconds one hundred people surrounded the two Senshi. They all started begging for the Senshi to help them find loved ones, for food, for shelter or a free ride to the undamaged mountain regions. Mercury was overwhelmed by the attention but Sun pushed the people aside in a very unladylike fashion and led Mercury into the hospital.  
  
The lobby was guarded by the military, there were some VIP's that were getting special treatment inside the hospital and since the country was on full military alert, the hospital was locked down. Sun demanded that they be let in. The guards at first refused, but when Sun invoked her Senshi magic, which caused her eyes to change from blue to black with flames for pupils, the guards backed off.  
  
Mercury was starting to think coming to Earth was a really stupid idea. As before, once they were in the lobby, a crowd demanding that they heal them or somehow magically make everything normal again mobbed them. Sun once again just shoved past everyone with Mercury in tow and dragged her to a utility closet and shut the door.  
  
Sun held the door shut. "O.K. Genius, how are you going to get any privacy with your mother? Do you want to tell the whole world your true name?" Sun was not happy about the situation they were in.  
  
"I just wanted to find out things were really like here." She dropped her head down. "I think I already know now."  
  
"I've been blown up by an atom bomb! I have a tiny clue what sort of hellhole this place has become! Why did you have me bring you here? If anything I should have brought Saturn and have her start healing people!" Sun was angry, she held her head with her hand and massaged her forehead.  
  
Mercury shrank at Sun's outburst. "I... I thought things were not so bad."  
  
"Not so bad! What! I thought of all people, you would be the smart one! You saw Yokohama blow up from your own bedroom window. Don't you understand what happened! I was only about ten kilometers away from a really big blast and I saw my..." Sun grimaced at the thought. She punched the door leaving a fist-sized hole in it. She choked a tear.  
  
"I didn't know." Mercury slid down and sat on the floor.  
  
Sun took a deep breath and counted to three. "We've got a job to do. Do you still need to see your mother?"  
  
Mercury looked at the ground, "I want to see her."  
  
"Where would she be?"  
  
"She usually works on the third floor, but now. I have no idea."  
  
Sun gave it a thought. "Stay here. Don't go anywhere understand? Keep the door shut." Outside the closet, people were knocking and trying to get in to have an audience with the Senshi.  
  
Mercury nodded. She felt like she didn't really want to be on Earth right now.  
  
Sun opened the closet door, shoved people aside and closed it. Mercury moved to the door and sat behind it to keep it shut. Sun found a soldier and dragged him to the closet. She bowed and asked the soldier to keep guard. The guard made a small bow back and stood guard. He had seen the Senshi in action and had the deepest respect for what they could do.  
  
Sun marched to the lobby, asked for Dr. Mizuno, was directed to the fourth floor and found her in intensive care. She was in the nurse's station barely able to stand. She was suffering from exhaustion. Sun went up to Dr. Mizuno and asked if that was her name. She was a little taken by the question since she had met Sun at Ami's house several times. "Yes, I am Dr. Mizuno."  
  
Sun turned to the nurse next to Dr. Mizuno, "I need to borrow her for a few minutes." Sun grabbed the doctor and flashed out. The nurses just dropped their jaws at what they had just seen.  
  
In Ami's bedroom Sun and Dr. Mizuno appeared. Dr. Mizuno was a little dizzy so Sun gently put her on Ami's bed. She then flashed out and in about fifteen seconds returned with Sailor Mercury.  
  
Mercury didn't notice where she was, "Sun! Don't grab me like that!" Sun held Mercury's head and turned it to face her mother. Mercury gave a look of pure joy and leapt on top of her. Sun said to them, "I'll leave you two alone for ten minutes." She flashed back to the space station.  
  
Mercury hugged her mother with a chest crushing hold. Her mother returned the favor in kind. "Mom, I was so worried about you." She cried a tear of joy.  
  
Her mother hugged her super hero daughter and told her what she knew.  
  
  
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Sun appeared back at the space station and gave the other Senshi the news of what she saw. She told them that Mercury's mother is fine but the hospital was full of dying people.   
  
Sailor Saturn came forward, "Do they need my help?" She felt like she could heal the world.  
  
"You don't want to go, trust me." Sun tried to talk her out of it, going into detail about the mob of people that she was going to have to deal with. Saturn was adamant, she wanted to help, even if it only a handful of people. The recovery of Kasumi gave her a new purpose, a purpose she wanted to fulfill. Sun once again tried to talk her out of it. "You have no idea what it is like down there. Kasumi was just you and she. We are talking thousands of people."  
  
Saturn felt dejected. She so badly wanted to help. Sun had an idea. "Neptune or Uranus can you come to Earth with Saturn to help her?"  
  
The two parents shot glances at each other. Neptune took a step forward to Saturn. "Are you sure you want to do this?"  
  
Saturn was unsure, but she nodded anyways.  
  
"Neptune, you go first." Sun grabbed Neptune and a moment later they were in a supply closet. "Take a look around. I'll be back in a few minutes. If you say it's ok. I'll get Saturn." Sun flashed out to Ami's place.  
  
Neptune stepped out of the closet and went to the lobby of the hospital. The soldier wondered how many Senshi were in there.  
  
  
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Sun appeared in front of Mercury. "Time's up."  
  
Sailor Mercury didn't want to go. Her mother told her, "I've got patients to look after." Mercury made a weak smile to her mother and gave her another hug. She slowly let go. Sun held her and took her back to the station. She then came back and got Dr. Mizuno and dropped her off at the nurse's station among the crowd of nurses that had collected there. Sun bowed to them and took the elevator to the first floor. She was tuckered out and need a break from teleportation.  
  
Finding Neptune was easy; she just followed the crowd of screaming people calling out Neptune's name. She pushed into the crowd and got to Neptune, "Still want to go through with this?"  
  
Neptune nodded yes. Sun told her, "O.K. Call me on the communicator when you are ready to leave." She glanced around. "I think you are going to be very popular." She disappeared, stunning the crowd for only a few seconds. Then they all started to hound Neptune.  
  
At the station Saturn was twiddling her thumbs. She was seriously thinking that maybe going to Earth right now wasn't a very good idea. Sun flashed into the lobby. She came to Saturn, "Your mother is waiting, still want to go?"  
  
Saturn slowly nodded.   
  
Sun gulped, "I hope you are ready my friend." Saturn smiled at the mention of the word 'friend'. Sun gently held Saturn's shoulders and took her directly to Neptune.   
  
"Neptune, call me if you have any problems." Sun let go of Saturn and went back to the station.  
  
The mob surrounded the two Senshi. They both had to push back the crowd. It lasted about three minutes and then the crowd was pushed away. Sailor Uranus came through and took her family towards the elevator to the fourth floor. Sun told her to have Dr. Mizuno direct Saturn to the cases she could help the most with. With both Uranus and Neptune as guards, Saturn could work in peace.  
  
Hours later, after Saturn had healed her thirtieth patient. Uranus told Neptune, "I am so proud of our little girl." She paused a bit, "You know, Sun isn't all that obnoxious. She does have her heart in the right place."  
  
Neptune smiled, "Her wife is still violent though."  
  
Uranus smiled back, "If there is hope for Sun, there's hope for Io."  
  
  
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The jeep was doing about 80 KPH when it entered the LAX entryway. They had to rapidly slow down to avoid the stopped busses that blocked the on ramp to the arrivals terminal. In front of the International terminal sat several marine corp. trucks and thirty soldiers with a make shift command post. They skidded to a halt about ten meters from the base. The Corporal barked out, "Take him."  
  
Johnson jumped out of the jeep and aimed his handgun at Tuxedo Mask. "Hands on your head!" Johnson gestured to another soldier to get some handcuffs. Richardson came and cuffed Tuxedo Mask and they escorted him to the back of the nearest truck and cuffed him to the seat.  
  
Corporal Gonzalez went to Sergeant Miller. Miller asked for the report. "You aren't going to believe this, but there are robots of some kind and they're armed. We saw two kinds, ones that are slow and large, others are man sized and look like store mannequins. Both kinds shot at us on sight. We lost Phillips to one of the mannequins."  
  
Miller asked Johnson if this was what happened, "Those things are real. They are coming, and we should bug out."  
  
Miller had seen enough stuff happen in the last twenty-four hours that he was ready to believe that Santa Claus was going to stop by. "All right, let's group with Black Ops. They're at the Seal Beach armory. Move out!"  
  
All the men grabbed their gear and started loading the trucks. A sound came from over terminal three and was getting louder. It had an electric motor tinge to it and it was flying. Miller was ready for it. "That's no helicopter. I think we've got company. Men take positions."  
  
The men took positions behind vehicles or concrete trashcans as cover. Tuxedo Mask saw the commotion and started to wiggle his way free from the handcuffs.  
  
A silver hovercraft with twin electric turbofans flew over the terminal building and began firing its machine gun that was mounted on its undercarriage. Henderson yelled, "What the hell is that?!" Two soldiers fell and the rest opened fire.   
  
The left turbofan was damaged and shut down. The craft immediately fell into the terminal building and exploded. The fuel made an impressive fireball. Miller was convinced that sticking around was suicide, "Let's get the hell out of here!"  
  
All the men quickly threw the rest of their gear into the trucks and drove in procession towards Culver Blvd. Johnson told the lead driver, take Sepulveda to the 105, they'll be coming up Culver." Johnson remembered the three reddish brown robots and didn't want to see them again. The trucks drove under the airport runway in the Sepulveda tunnel and got on the eastbound 105 freeway.   
  
Tuxedo Mask finally worked his way out of the cuffs using his enhanced Senshi strength. He kept his hands behind himself to not attract attention.   
  
They drove for eleven minutes before the machines found them. Two of the reddish brown T-70 robots were on a freeway overpass and were waiting in ambush. They stood up as soon as the procession was in range. The lead driver was killed instantly and the truck went out of control and slammed into the center divider. The other trucks were able to stop and the men piled out and took cover.   
  
Henderson jumped down and opened a box of LAW rockets. Took one and threw it out the side of the truck. He took a second one and pulled it open into firing position. He leapt out of the truck, aimed and fired at the nearest robot, and then dove under the truck.  
  
The robot couldn't move out of the way in time and was blasted into a hundred pieces. Its companion turned its weapon on Henderson's position and resumed firing. A second later a rose was shoved into the bullet feed mechanism and jammed the belt fed machine gun. The robot lifted its gun arm to clear the gun's action when the soldiers jumped out and returned fire.  
  
The machine shook a little at the massive amount of bullets it was taking and the main breastplate shattered. The internals were exposed and a second later sparks came out and the T-70 fell over.  
  
Henderson was ready with the second LAW rocket. He didn't fire it since the robot had gone down. He scanned the area for another guest. Miller waved some men to go to the lead truck to look for survivors.  
  
Henderson yelled, "We got another one!" He fired his LAW rocket at a third T-70 who just walked into sight on the bridge. The robot took aim at the person who threw the flower and managed to squeeze off a few rounds before it was blown to bits.  
  
Tuxedo Mask took the bullets in the chest and fell over. He didn't think to take cover after throwing his rose. He gasped and held his wounds. Corporal Gonzalez rushed to his aid. "You got hit pretty bad." He pulled off Tuxedo Mask's top hat and attempted to unbutton his tuxedo. He noticed the clothes had no buttons. In fact, there were no snaps or anyway to remove his shirt without ripping it off.   
  
Tuxedo Mask transformed into Mamoru. "This should help."  
  
Gonzalez stared wide eyed, "You really are one of those magical people aren't you?" He took a piece of Mamoru's shirt and ripped it to make a bandage.  
  
"Not magical enough I'm afraid." He was losing consciousness.  
  
"Damn it! MEDIC! I'm losing this one!" He examined the three bullet holes. It looked really bad. The bullets were explosive tipped rounds designed for anti-personnel use. "Stay with me!" He began to massage his heart but stopped when he noticed it cause the bleeding to get worse.  
  
"Tell Sailor Moon, I love her."  
  
"Don't you do this to me! Damn you!" Gonzalez wanted to ask this guy some questions, not pass a love letter to his girlfriend. He slapped him to keep him awake. "I need a medic here NOW!"  
  
Mamoru closed his eyes and went still.  
  
"Ah Jesus!" Gonzalez was furious. He slapped Mamoru again and tried to massage his heart. The medic came and took one look at Mamoru and just shook his head and ran off to another fallen soldier.  
  
He sat back and looked at his bloodstained hands. He then looked at Mamoru. He was connected to those girls that he had met in the desert somehow. There was no way to explain the clothes transformation and the fact that this guy took out a machine gun with a rose. He searched the body for anything that would help explain who he really was. He found a wallet, some japanese money and a strange looking calculator. He pocketed everything he could find and then went to assist the other men.  
  
This was going to be a long night.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Action, action action... I've always to write a combat piece.  
  
Here is what a T-70 looks like. http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/s.billen/t70_series.htm  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 14, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	21. Meeting the enemy

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 20 Meeting the enemy  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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"REPORT: MAIN AREA OF TAIWAN SECURED. REMAINING HUMANS IN RURAL AREAS. COMBAT TROOPS FOUND IN LOS ANGELES.  
  
"COMMAND: DISPATCH HK FLYING UNITS TO TERMINATE TAIWAN HUMANS. DISPATCH T-70/T-600/HK TANKS TO SEAL BEACH CALIFORNIA TO TERMINATE COMBAT TROOPS. PREPARE TO SECURE JAPAN."  
  
  
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Sergeant Miller needed to vent. He took Corporal Gonzalez aside and yelled at him for no real reason. "I've lost seven men under my command! Just what the hell is going on?!" He kicked the center divider of the freeway they were standing on. He calmed down a bit, "Have we gotten any word from anyone?"  
  
Gonzalez was just as worried, "No, we've been cut off for the last few hours. Don't know if this has anything to do with EMP or if those metal things are behind it."  
  
"What do you think? Martians?" Miller was grasping at straws.  
  
Gonzalez replied, "I have no bloody clue."  
  
Miller ended his rant, went to the men and ordered everyone back into the remaining two trucks. The rest of the vehicles were too damaged to go on. They took food and heavy weapons. They knew if they met these metal things again that they would only be able to use the big stuff on them.  
  
In the back of the lead truck were the bodies of six soldiers and Mamoru. Private Phillips was left behind somewhere in Los Angeles; they couldn't risk themselves to get his body. Miller wanted to leave Mamoru behind but Gonzalez insisted that they brought him along.  
  
Gonzalez sat with the troops in the back of the second truck. They were going at a brisk pace occasionally slowing down to nudge some wrecked cars out of the way. All the men were still wearing their chemical warfare gear. They were not taking any chances that another chemical attack could be launched again.  
  
Gonzalez pulled out the strange calculator he got from Mamoru. The buttons had strange symbols on them. He thought about it and what the Sailor Scouts he met had said. "Anyone here speak Japanese?"  
  
Henderson, a large African American who looked like he should be playing professional football spoke up, "I do." Henderson was a godlike being with heavy munitions. He never missed a shot.  
  
Gonzalez didn't believe him, "Yeah right."  
  
"Kon bon wa Gonzalez-san". Henderson smiled. "You don't think I'm going to stay in the marines forever did you? I know four languages. So, why do you care?"  
  
"O.K. Smart guy, translate this." He handed him the calculator.  
  
"Hmm. What is this? Is it a portable answering machine? It says, Play, Replay, Erase, Skip."  
  
Gonzalez was convinced. He grabbed a pen and paper and drew a picture of the button layout. He had all the buttons translated in a minute. He took the communicator from Henderson. Henderson protested, "Where did you get this? You didn't steal it when you drove through Little Tokyo did you?"  
  
"Don't ask me where I got it. You wouldn't believe me anyways."  
  
Henderson patted a LAW rocket. "After what I fought tonight? Try me."  
  
Gonzalez looked at the translated buttons. It had a numeric keypad and buttons much like a cell phone and answering machine in one. The only thing missing was the phone numbers. He wished he had the manual to the thing. He slipped it into his pocket and waited.  
  
  
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Sailor Moon rolled her eyes and fainted dead away. The other scouts went to her aid and fanned her to get her to wake up. Mars shook her head, "Some leader! Of all times for her to go to pieces, why now?"  
  
Jupiter shot back, "You don't know what she's been though! You heard Mercury talk about how it's like on Earth. For all we know, she was mobbed on her way to Mercury's place."  
  
Sun and Mercury were at the communications console getting all the news they could from Earth. Mercury was operating the console while Sun was remembering passwords and basic operations from her past life. In Sun's current life, she could barely run a TV remote control and a computer was beyond her.  
  
Mercury nudged Sun with her elbow, "You know, computers are not that hard to use. I could teach you."  
  
Sun felt about her past and remembered that she once was great in math and science. "Maybe I'll take you up on that."  
  
Sailor Moon finally awoke. She sat up and looked around. "Where are we? Is this Sun's space station?"  
  
Mars was not amused, "Don't you remember? You led the Sailor Teleport here."  
  
"Where is Tuxedo Mask?" Sailor Moon had a glazed look in her eyes. She already knew his fate. She felt it in her soul. She hoped against hope that she was wrong.  
  
"I don't know." Jupiter answered, "We've been trying to get a hold of him on the communicator and Mercury and Sun didn't sense him in Juuban."  
  
"That's because he's in California." Sailor Moon said softly.  
  
Mars looked at Moon and got upset, "CALIFORNIA! Why didn't you tell us! We have Io and Venus running around Juuban right now looking for him!"  
  
"He only left a few days ago. He was supposed to be back today." Sailor Moon wanted to cry. She couldn't.  
  
Mars grabbed her communicator and dialed Venus's number. It read, "Number not in service."  
  
"Huh?" Mars tried again. Same message. She dialed Jupiter's number. Jupiter's communicator beeped. "Mercury, what gives? I can't reach Venus."  
  
Mercury spun her chair around and saw that Mars was referring to the communicator. "Oh silly, it timed out. We are about eight light minutes from Earth. You however can send a message. It will take about eight minutes to get there."  
  
Mars frowned, "Great. So if I'm on Earth and I need to call for help. It will take eight minutes to get a rescue."  
  
Mercury didn't think about that. "Hmm, well I'll see if there is some way to get them to transmit faster than light."  
  
Mars looked at Sun, "Well she can teleport faster than light, so I think it's possible our communicators could be made to do it too."  
  
Sun dropped her head to the desk. "I'm the taxi service. Now I'll be the messenger boy. What next?"  
  
Mercury smiled, "You mean girl don't you? Oh, you need to recharge the station's power too."  
  
Sun forgot that she also could channel her magical energy as a temporary power source to the other girls and to magical machines. She hid her face on the desk, "Oh, that's right! I'm a battery too."  
  
Jupiter went to Sun, "Can you go get Venus and Io? Tuxedo Mask is not in Juuban."  
  
Mercury was curious, "Where is he then?"  
  
"Moon says he's in California."  
  
Sun, still with her head on the desk, "Where in California? It's as big as Japan." She thought, please, I don't want to go to California again.  
  
Mars gently tapped on Moon's shoulder, "What city is he in?"  
  
"Los Angeles." She whispered. She stood up. "I'm going."  
  
Sun lifted her head from the desk and the other three girls gawked at Sailor Moon as she came to life. Mars asked, "You're going?"  
  
Moon commanded, "Sun, get Venus here. We are going to Sailor Teleport to Los Angeles."  
  
The scouts looked at each other. Sailor Moon was acting weirder than normal. Sun shrugged and flashed out.  
  
Fifteen seconds later Sun flashed in again. Sailor Venus fell to the floor with Sun still attached to her back. Venus pushed Sun off, "Don't scare me like that!"  
  
"Sorry! Be right back." She flashed out again.  
  
Jupiter was envious, "I wish I could do that."  
  
Venus reported, "Well, I've been around Juuban. There are broken windows and lots of dust everywhere. But the city is mostly still there. From what I gathered, the bomb missed Tokyo and hit really far north in the middle of nowhere. That's why Juuban is O.K."  
  
Mercury nodded her head, "So that's why Nerima was hit so hard. It's in the northernmost part of Tokyo." She got sad thinking about Sun and Io's loss.  
  
"Well, I couldn't find Tuxedo Mask, dead or alive." She noticed Sailor Moon standing there. "Oh... Uh..." She turned away from Moon.  
  
"We are teleporting to Los Angeles and getting Tuxedo Mask." Moon spoke with authority and conviction. It was not like her at all. She usually whined and hid.  
  
The other scouts looked at each other as if they wanted someone to speak out. Moon took Mars and Venus's hands to begin the circle. Sun flashed in right in front of Moon with Sailor Io in her arms. "Put me down you pervert!"  
  
Sun dropped Io on the floor. "Fine!" She stormed off to the console, staggered a bit and sat down next to Mercury. "I need to take a five minute break." She placed her head on the desk and fell asleep.  
  
"Wow." Mercury was amazed at quickly Sun simply conked out.  
  
Io looked at the partial circle around her. "What's up?"  
  
Moon looked at Io, "We're going to Los Angeles. We could use your help."  
  
"Ok, sounds like a plan to me." Io joined the circle. Mercury and Jupiter joined in as well and Sailor Moon concentrated. Sailor Moon made a strange face. The six girls turned into beams of light and disappeared.  
  
Artemis peeked around a corner to the almost empty room. "Well, finally Moon got it right." He looked at the sleeping Sailor Sun. "You didn't have to crush me on the way here." Artemis limped back to the room where he and Luna were still nursing their cracked ribs.  
  
Sailor Pluto came from her hiding place and sat at the computer console. She started typing like she had a purpose.  
  
  
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It was very late at night, almost morning. Six sailor scouts appeared on an empty freeway. There were some damaged marine corp. trucks and several wrecked cars strewn around the road.  
  
"Where are we?" Asked Jupiter.  
  
Sailor Moon released her grip on Venus and Mars and walked quickly to a broken chain gun sitting in the road. The gun looked like it had fallen from the bridge above because of the way it was twisted and bent. She examined the gun and found a red rose in it. She gently pulled out the rose and held it close.  
  
"I don't know where we are. What's with Moon?" Mars replied.  
  
Moon silently turned and walked without a word towards a bloodstain in the middle of the road. She kneeled next to it.  
  
All the girls felt the aura at the same time and fell silent. Moon had touched the stain on the ground. She knew Tuxedo Mark was dead. She closed her eyes and just knelt there holding his rose.  
  
The other girls bowed their heads in respect.  
  
  
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The new Air Force One was on its way to Las Vegas. The military was able to repair the ground radar and the landing system to the Las Vegas International airport. It was able to take commercial aircraft again. Not many aircraft were still functioning due to the Electro-Magnetic Pulse bursts over the central and eastern United States.  
  
The newly inaugurated President was furious. He got reports that all combat units near Los Angeles California have had all contact lost. He demanded a list of all combat troops in the California area. His aide got the information for him. Later the President got lists of the locations and strengths of the entire United States military worldwide.  
  
"Are you sure this list is complete?"   
  
"Yes it is Mr. President. General Rat..." The aide couldn't finish his sentence. He was dead from a spear through the neck.  
  
The President took the body hanging from his metal arm and slid it under the desk. He called in his guards and sliced their heads off. He piled the bodies neatly and transformed into the shape of one of the guards. He left the office and locked the door.  
  
He walked over to the armory in the center area of the plane. Took a look around to make sure that no one can see, changed his finger into a key and turned the lock. He opened the cabinet, took out an Uzi sub-machine gun and stuck it in his chest. He grabbed several grenades and formed four hands. He placed a grenade in each hand and pulled the pins. He walked to the center of the plane.  
  
Another guard noticed the extra appendages on his friend, "Uh... Ron, what gives?"  
  
The T-1000 tossed the grenades against four locations against the plane windows. The grenades exploded causing the plane to immediately break apart and disintegrate in mid-air. The T-1000 fell with the wreckage. It formed simple wings and glided to the ground safely. The T-1000 had been serving its master since it arrived in 1984 with a backup copy of Skynet.  
  
It stood and transmitted the entire United States tactical database to its master. It was given a new mission and began to run to Las Vegas.  
  
The Vice President had been dead for three hours before World War III.  
  
  
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"REPORT: ALL AMERICAN FORCES LOCATED."  
  
"COMMAND: DISPATCH UNITS TO TERMINATE FORCES IN VIRGINIA AND LOS ANGELES COUNTY."  
  
  
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Sergeant Miller was nervous. They have been out of contact with any other unit for almost a day. He lost some good men and they been attacked by forces from another world. This was not his day.  
  
They were reaching the southernmost end of the 605 freeway and were only five miles from the Seal Beach armory. They expected that the Black Ops team would still be there since their mission was to secure the special equipment stored there. With these robots firing what appeared to be normal machine guns, they should be stopped from getting the weapons stored there.  
  
"This is the last time I volunteer for a scout mission." Miller muttered. The mission was simple enough. Los Angeles had all contact lost, just drive in, see if it was nuked, drive back. It was a simple mission. No one had a clue that the city suffered a chemical attack of the magnitude they witnessed. They got chemical protection gear and drove into town. The sight of dead people everywhere, but all the buildings intact made them think that it was a neutron bomb of some kind. The death just kept going and going.  
  
The driver slowed the truck as he approached a freeway off ramp. "Sir, look at that."  
  
Miller saw it. A battle was raging near the armory, tracer rounds were visible and some tiny flashes were seen every few seconds. "Johnson! Contact Black Ops."  
  
Johnson started working the radio trying to get a clean signal. He heard some radio traffic, but it was filled with static.  
  
Gonzalez felt the truck stop. He pulled out the communicator and started pressing buttons. It printed something in Japanese on the display. He hit the 0 button and then send. The display printed something else in Japanese.  
  
Miller looked ahead, some of those flying things are coming their way. "Let's go back."  
  
Gonzalez looked out the back of his truck and saw lights from vehicles behind them coming down the freeway. "We've got incoming at six o'clock!"  
  
The two trucks drove into each other and made a loud crunch. Miller and Rogers stuck their heads out the passenger windows and they saw the vehicles coming from both directions. They both yelled, "Oh shit!"  
  
Miller took a look around. "Take the 405 south, we're going to Oceanside!"  
  
The driver wasn't going to argue, He turned back onto the freeway and hit the accelerator. The second truck followed.  
  
Gonzalez got the men in the back of the second truck to prepare their weapons for a rear assault. The ground vehicles looked like something they could outrun, but the flying ones, he wasn't so sure.  
  
  
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All six Senshi had their communicators beep at the same time. They looked at each other strangely. Sailor Moon looked at the return number, it was Mamoru's. "Hello?"   
  
The communicator started to speak words in English; no one was really speaking at them. It was like someone turned it on and didn't turn it off. Mercury listened and translated for everyone to understand. "It's really hard to tell. There are a lot of people on the other end. I think they are saying... Get down... LAW rocket, whatever that means... Shit... Oh Shit... Something starting with "F"... Duck... Fire..." She then moved the communicator away from her ear since a loud popping sound came from it.  
  
Mercury turned to the girls, "These people are in trouble."  
  
Moon commanded, "We're going to help them."  
  
Mars looked at Moon like she had just gone off the deep end, "They sound like the military. This isn't our fight."  
  
Moon held the rose, took a smell and placed it in sub-space. "It's our fight now. Is everyone with me?"  
  
Io was always ready for a fight, "I am!"  
  
Jupiter raised her gloved fist, "I'll go!"  
  
Venus and Mercury didn't think this well thought out, but they will follow their princess. "Let's go."  
  
Mars turned to look at the wreckage of the gun and took a deep breath, "You're not going without me."  
  
Moon ordered, "Send a message to Sun, we might need her help."  
  
Mercury popped out her little computer and typed a message, the communicator was too slow.  
  
They formed a circle and Moon concentrated on the Mamoru's communicator, saw a vision of what was going on. She saw in her mind two trucks being chased by flying machine. She picked a teleportation destination and then they teleported to a bridge about a kilometer in front of the speeding trucks. They were driving at high speed with three Hunter-Killer flyers giving chase.   
  
Sailor Moon took a good look at the flyers. "Girls, let us get those silver things and save those men!"  
  
"Right!" They all called out.  
  
The girls stood in a straight line and prepared their magic attacks.  
  
Henderson shot a LAW rocket at the lead HK but it missed. Gonzalez thought they were going to be toast. "Henderson, I thought you never missed."  
  
Henderson gave an angry glare and grabbed the last LAW rocket. Gunfire erupted from the lead HK and the men ducked down. They were lucky they didn't get hit.  
  
Sergeant Miller thought he was imagining things. There were six young girls on the bridge ahead watching them drive up. He felt sorry for them since those flying machines were shooting at anything that moved.  
  
Sailor Moon stood took a step forward, "I am Sailor Moon! You are being..."  
  
"Lava Blast!" Io shot at the lead HK that just turned its gun on Sailor Moon. It connected and melted the cannon.  
  
Moon didn't like her speech interrupted. The other girls started their attacks. Moon held her wand high. She called, "Rainbow moon heart ache!"  
  
Mercury called, "Shabon spray freezing!"  
  
Io called, "Lava Blast!"  
  
Mars called, "Burning Mandala!"  
  
Jupiter called, "Sparkling Wide Pressure!"  
  
Venus called, "Crescent beam!"  
  
Two girls targeted each HK and they all exploded at the same time.  
  
Gonzalez cheered from the back of the truck, "You got them Henderson!"  
  
Henderson looked at his unfired rocket. "Uh... I didn't do that."  
  
Miller saw the carnage and didn't believe his eyes. "Just what happened?"  
  
The girls were cheering at their success. Moon however ran to the other side of the bridge. She saw the trucks drive off. She waved to them. She waved goodbye to Mamoru. She knew he was on one of the trucks. She just wanted to be near him one last time.  
  
The trucks stopped. At first Moon thought it was because they saw her. Then she saw the seven flyers coming from the side of the freeway from the direction of Seal Beach.   
  
"Girls, we are going to do it again. One on one this time." Moon had the girls spread out.   
  
Below the men in the trucks jumped out and took positions using the trucks and the center divider as cover. They thought that the jig was up this time.  
  
The Hunter-Killers approached rapidly, two veered off to attack the trucks, the other five went for the Senshi.  
  
The soldiers fired first, a LAW rocket went up and missed the lead HK, and machine gun fire rang out from the men and knocked out an engine and the craft dropped like a rock. The second HK flew into the first's smoke cloud and made itself hidden.  
  
The girls cast their attacks and dropped four HKs instantly; Venus's Crescent Beam hit the fuselage but didn't hit anything vital. It fired back at Venus who managed to jump over the side of the bridge to avoid getting shot. The rest of the girls scattered with Io making a wild Lava Blast at the HK, which missed completely.  
  
The second HK attacking the trucks flew out of the smoke and was about to fire when a thrown fireball hit it from behind. It exploded and rained flaming debris everywhere. Sailor Sun then threw another Searing Plasma Blast at the final HK hitting an engine causing it to spin out of control.   
  
Moon waved her wand and sent a large heart shaped wave of magic pushing the craft backwards, causing it to flip over and hit the ground hard, exploding on impact.  
  
Moon jumped down from the bridge and ran over to the trucks, the other Senshi followed. Sun was more cautious; she was scanning the horizon for any more of those flying things.  
  
The soldiers looked at the magical girls with awe. Gonzalez ordered them to hold their fire. He recognized Sun and Io, the others he didn't know. "Thank you."  
  
Sailor Moon stood before them. She was about to speak when she realized her English sucked. She called Mercury to stand next to her and translate. Moon spoke with Mercury repeating in English. "We are the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi. You have a friend of ours. We want to take him home."  
  
Gonzalez knew exactly whom they were talking about. "Follow me."  
  
Moon followed him to Mamoru's body. She looked at him and closed her eyes.  
  
Gonzalez looked at the expression on this girl's face. She cared about this guy, "Are you Sailor Moon?"  
  
She spoke softly, "Yes."  
  
The Corporal sighed; he had to do it, "He gave me a message. He told me to tell you, he loved you."  
  
Sailor Moon contracted her face when Mercury translated it. She turned to Sailor Sun, "Please take him to the space station."   
  
Sun didn't like being around dead bodies. She couldn't refuse a request from the Moon Princess. She hopped into the truck, picked up his body and saw that the sun had come up. "Whew." She flashed out to the space station.  
  
"Senshi, let's go back." Moon held her hands out and they formed a circle and went back to the space station together.  
  
Miller looked at Gonzalez. "You didn't see anything right?"  
  
Gonzalez replied, "See what?"  
  
Miller turned to the men, "Let's get to Oceanside! NOW!"  
  
They got in the trucks and made it to Oceanside in record time.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Time for the Senshi to meet the enemy. Flyers are easy to take out. The robots and ground tanks... Well...  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 16, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	22. The depths of despair

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 21 The depths of despair  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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"REPORT: ELEVEN HK FLYERS DESTROYED BY AMERICAN COMBAT SQUAD. OUTCOME OF BATTLE DID NOT MATCH SIMULATION."  
  
"COMMAND: ANALYZE COMBAT LOSS. DETERMINE NEW WEAPONS."  
  
Skynet went over the battle logs of the skirmish at the Los Angeles Airport. The loss of the HK was acceptable; it killed two soldiers and was able to detect the unit's strength. From this, an ambush was planned that would result in the loss of three T-70 units but was predicted to wipe out most if not the entire marine unit.  
  
A T-70 having its gun jammed by a rose was an unexpected event. It resulted in only four soldiers and the civilian who threw the rose killed. Skynet looked at all the history of battles through the ages and found nothing that said that roses were battle weapons.  
  
Skynet took no chances. It sent ten HK flyers to utterly wipe out the marine corp. unit. The simulation had shown that they were going to destroy the unit with a possible loss of a single HK. The battle was much different. In a single minute all ten HKs were destroyed. Seven girls wielding energy weapons of some sort easily defeated Skynet's forces.  
  
The marines were inconsequential and the pursuit was abandoned. Who was this new adversary? Only six of the seven girls were recorded on camera. The seventh struck from behind and was not visible at all until she attacked.  
  
The entire log was analyzed and only one girl was recognized. She was called Sailor Io and she was with Sailor Sun and Sailor Pluto at an Internet monitoring station. The only connection it had to the girl's whereabouts was that Ami Mizuno might have had something to do with these girls.  
  
Ami Mizuno was the key to learning about this new enemy. Skynet moved up her termination order on the priority list. It knew where she lived.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Sun took Tuxedo Mask's body and placed it on a bed in the tiny sickbay the space station had. She promptly collapsed. The other Senshi beamed in and came to check up on Sun. Io and Jupiter dragged Sun to bed. Sun had overdone it again. Io spoke to Jupiter, "I guess that sunlight from dawn wasn't good enough for her."  
  
Jupiter nodded. They tucked Sun into bed and went back to the Senshi in sickbay.  
  
Sailor Moon stood next to her boyfriend. She had a look of fierce determination on her. She was somehow going to set things right. She just didn't know how.  
  
"Sailor Moon, I need to speak with you." It was Sailor Pluto. The other Senshi backed away since Pluto had a look that she meant business.  
  
The two wandered off. The others followed but Pluto glared at them, "Alone!" She put her arm around Moon and went off to the power room and sealed the door.  
  
Mars crossed her arms, "What was that about?" The other Senshi gave a collective shrug. Pluto was always the odd and mysterious one. Why should now be any different?  
  
"Oh good! You are all here." Kasumi called from the dining area. She had prepared a meal for everyone. "Dinner's ready."  
  
The Senshi looked at each other and realized they hadn't eaten for quite some time. They all ran and took seats with chopsticks at the ready. The food tasted pretty good. Kasumi worked her magic on the one thousand year old tofu blocks; freeze dried vegetable matter and other unrecognizable supplies that were in the food stores. The kitchen was spotless and everything was neat and tidy.  
  
Kasumi sat among them. "So, Akane, can you introduce me to your friends?"  
  
Io giggled, "When I am dressed like this, could you call me Sailor Io?"  
  
Kasumi touched her lip with her fingers and smiled, "That is such a cute name."  
  
Sailor Io introduced Kasumi to all the Senshi at the table by their Sailor names. They all exchanged greetings and idle chitchat. Io smiled at her sister. She was so happy to be sharing a moment with both of her families.  
  
  
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Sailor Moon came when they were about finished with the meal. She for a moment reverted back to the old Sailor Moon when she started to munch on everything in sight. Io introduced Moon to Kasumi and then Moon changed back to her odd state.  
  
Sailor Moon ordered for Sailor Sun to take a break. The teleportation has been taxing her and she was concerned that if she didn't get any rest, she could hurt herself. She told them to leave her in bed. She was going to be needed soon in full health. She told Io to keep an eye on Sun.  
  
Sailor Moon took the Inners to the hospital where they assisted the nursing staff and gave a huge morale boost to the people of Tokyo. Sailor Moon was getting to know her future subjects.  
  
Pluto stayed at the station. She was back at the computer communication console scanning Earth. She was looking for Skynet. She was getting close. She could feel it.  
  
Io was sleeping next to Sun. She want to make sure that Sun didn't sneak off somewhere.  
  
Sun couldn't sleep. She was having a nightmare about her mother's death. "MOM!" She jumped up out of bed and landed in a fighting stance. She slowly put her hands on her knees and calmed down. She looked at the alarm clock by the bed. She still had an hour before she needed to be up. She sat on her bed and was restless. Io was still asleep. Sun thought about Ukyou. She hadn't checked on her. She tried to sense her. She couldn't from the station. She had to be much closer. She concentrated and teleported.  
  
Io opened her eyes. She quickly looked around the room for Sun. "Argh! She got away!" She ran off to tell the others.  
  
Sun stood in front of Ucchan's. Her heart sunk into her feet. The restaurant was totally destroyed. She walked into the area where the grill once stood. There were fragments and protrusions from the ground that hinted the outline of the booths and the counter that Ukyou's smiling face once stood behind. Sun didn't want to, but she had to know. She relaxed and let her Senshi sense detect the presence of Ukyou. It led her to the back of the restaurant where the storeroom once was. There were some twisted metal and broken poles still sticking out of the concrete foundation. Otherwise, there was nothing here. She stood in a former corner and felt the former presence of two people. "At least you were not alone Ucchan." Sun kneeled and gave a prayer for her dear friends Ukyou and Konatsu. She vowed to never forget them.  
  
Sun teleported into the courtyard of the Tendo dojo, she looked around at the ruins of what was once her home. She went to the former kitchen and stood where she found Kasumi. She used her Senshi senses to feel the life that was once there. It felt good. It felt a little like what it was not so long ago.  
  
She gazed at the dark sky, staring at where her bedroom once was. She took a deep breath. How she wanted to go back to the way it was. The way things currently are truly wasn't a world she wanted to live in. She still had Sailor Io and Kasumi, so she still had people who cared for her.  
  
She felt her mother. She was directly above her. In the next room, she felt Nabiki. Sun sighed thinking how she probably was complaining how her stock prices were dropping before it didn't matter for her anymore. She looked farther down and knew that was where Mr. Tendo was, taking the bath that he so loved.  
  
She sat down in the former dining room and recalled all the times she ate there. How she fought with her father for scraps of food and gotten clobbered from everyone on a regular basis. She missed those times.  
  
She felt people in the area. She thought that they might be others who, like her, were trying to reclaim a tiny piece of their former lives. There was sadly no going back. She meditated for a moment to reflect and to remember her mother. She remembered her in a good way, the times she taught her to cook, taking her shopping and just trying to be a good surrogate mother to Ranko.  
  
Sun had a feeling of despair. It broke her meditation. She opened her eyes and saw a somewhat familiar person walking past the former front of the house. Ryoga looked like he had aged twenty years. His hair had fallen out in places and he had a strange burn mark on his finger where a ring would be. His skin was discolored and he looked very pale.  
  
Sailor Sun was overjoyed. Someone else she cared about had survived. "Ryoga!" Sun stood up and totally forgot that she was dressed as a Senshi. "Wait up!"  
  
Ryoga stopped in his tracks and turned to the strange red-haired girl that was calling him by name. He stumbled a bit and regained his footing. "Hello?"  
  
"I'm so glad you're alive pork butt!" Sailor Sun held Ryoga by the shoulders. Ryoga just stood there totally shocked that a stranger would call him that.  
  
"Do I know you?" Ryoga moved his head up and down gawking are this odd girl. He thought that he knew this girl but really couldn't place her.  
  
"It's me! Ranma!" Sun held her arms akimbo and held out her chest in a male fashion. It looked rather strange coming from a female body in a skintight leotard and mini-skirt.  
  
"Ranma? Why are you wearing that stupid disguise?"  
  
Sun stopped. She slowly looked at her dress and turned red. "Whoops!" She ran off and jumped behind a piece of wall just large enough to hide her body. She transformed to Ranko. She then hopped back over to Ryoga. "It this better?"  
  
"You are getting weirder all the time Ranma." Ryoga just shook his head. He paused for a moment, "Where's Akane?"  
  
"Oh, she's safe bacon breath..." was all Ranko could say before Ryoga jumped on her and shoved her to the ground.  
  
"THAT DOES IT!" Ryoga slammed his fist into Ranko's stomach and Ranko returned the favor with a kick that flung Ryoga over her head. Ranko got up and charged Ryoga at full speed. Ryoga landed on his feet a little clumsily but compensated by tilting with the fall and lifting his leg to meet Ranko's left shoulder. Ranko swerved to soften the blow and did a flip to reduce her forward speed.  
  
Ranko made a quick u-turn and stopped to see what was wrong with Ryoga. He rarely landed improperly and the way he looked gave away the fact that he wasn't healthy.  
  
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Ryoga was on his side and was having trouble getting up. He finally stood and faced Ranko and lifted his arms to fight. "Never call me that again! Do you hear me?"  
  
Ranko stood her ground. She saw that Ryoga was really in no condition to fight. She gulped and asked very gently and softly, "Akari?"  
  
The sound of that name set him off again. He made a battle cry and ran straight for Ranko. She easily jumped over the charging Ryoga who dived, missed and fell flat on the dusty ash covered ground. He didn't bother getting up. He punched the ground, "DAMN YOU RANMA!"  
  
"What did I do?" Ranko stood over his fallen friend, ready for him to try to attack her again.  
  
Ryoga didn't have an answer. He was so used to Ranma being at fault for all his problems that he cursed her by instinct. He slowly turned over and sat. He hung his head low and let bitterness and despair take hold.  
  
Ranko knew what happened. It was obvious. She kneeled down at a safe distance from Ryoga. "I'm sorry Ryoga." She bowed towards her friend.  
  
"SORRY!" He leapt at Ranko who had no problem jumping over Ryoga and avoiding the attack.  
  
"Will you stop that?" Ranko was getting tired of being a punching bag.   
  
Ryoga again lay there in the dusty ground. He turned on his back with tears in his eyes.  
  
Ranko added, "Do you think you are the only one who has suffered? I lost my mother."  
  
Ryoga didn't care. Nothing could match his despair.  
  
Ranko saw that her loss meant nothing to him. She filled with rage. "My mother means nothing to you huh? How about Akane? She lost her father and Nabiki! Does that mean anything to you P-Chan!"  
  
Ryoga was both furious and despondent at the same time. "Nabiki? Mr. Tendo?"  
  
Ranko took a step back to avoid an attack, "Yeah. So go ahead and wallow in your own self-pity. Look around; does this look like a town of happy people? Does it?"  
  
Ryoga just stared at the black clouds above. "Everything I had that mattered is gone. I have nothing anymore."  
  
Ranko wanted to cheer up her friend. "Well, you've got me." She blew it.  
  
Ryoga lifted his head and spat out, "Like I said, I've got nothing." Ryoga took a good look at Ranko and noticed that she was in perfect health. He examined his own arms and saw the radiation sickness that he was suffering from. Everyone he met in his travels was suffering from it in some form as well. Ranko though, looked like she had a nice hot bath and her clothes were perfectly clean. It was not normal. "Ranma, where have you been?"  
  
"Right here stupid. Where else would I be?" Ranko crossed her arms again giving a typical Ranma stance.  
  
"Why are you not sick? Did you find a cure?" Ryoga tried to stand up, but fell back down.  
  
"Cure for what?" Ranko was being her usual ignorant self.  
  
"Radiation poisoning you moron! Everyone has it! Look at you!" Ryoga was furious that Ranma was holding out on him. "Why are you healthy!"  
  
"What's radiation poisoning?" Ranko started looking around for a poison gas cloud or a pool of bad water.  
  
"You can't tell me that you hadn't gotten a flyer or heard the alerts. You can't be that clueless." Ryoga took a second to think about that, yes, Ranma could be that clueless.  
  
"No, I haven't gotten a flyer. But you do look like you've come down with something pretty bad." Ranko bobbed her head left and right to look at Ryoga's receding hairline. "Are you going bald? Little young for that aren't you?"  
  
Ryoga just stood with his mouth agape. Ranma had no clue what she was talking about and yet she was a vision of health. Where she lived must have been shielded from the fallout. That had to be the answer. "Ranma, take me to your place."  
  
Ranko, being her usual self, "Oh, Ryoga, this is so sudden." She batted her eyes and made a girlish pose.  
  
Ryoga couldn't take it anymore. He just didn't have the strength or the will to rip Ranko's head from her shoulders and throw it to China. He just fell to his knees. "Just leave me to die. You don't care."  
  
Ranko realized that she took things a bit too far. Usually she figured this out after a mallet strike. "Ok, I'll take you to my place. I think you need to see a doctor first."  
  
Ryoga tossed his head aside to look away from Ranko, "I'm terminal. I made the stupid mistake of packing my backpack with radioactive metal cans. The nurse at the triage unit said I'd be lucky to last another week."  
  
Ranko swallowed hard. She didn't know what to say. "Uh..."  
  
Ryoga just sighed. He gave a small smile, "At least my pain will finally come to an end." Ryoga turned to look at Ranko who was looking around for something. "What's your problem Ranma?"  
  
Ranko looked at the dust all around her. It dawned on her that she had been Sailor Sun since the apocalypse and this was the first time she had reverted to human form. She already started feeling a little nauseous but thought it was because Ryoga punched her in the stomach. She still had some Senshi powers in human form and can sense that she was in danger where she was. "Oh my god, so that's why I didn't get sick."  
  
Ryoga was wondering what Ranko meant by that.  
  
Ranko produced a small yellow rod with a reddish glow to it. "You wanted to know about my disguise?"  
  
Ryoga was not in the mood for games. But humored her anyways, "Yeah, why were you dressed in that stupid mini-skirt?"  
  
Ranko got angry. She was proud to be a Senshi. She was proud of her uniform, just like Akane was proud to wear her fuku, "It's not stupid!" She held her henshin stick high and exclaimed, "Sun Star Power, Make Up!"  
  
Ryoga couldn't believe his eyes. Ranko was encased in flames, her body lifted in the air and her clothes vanished replaced by red ribbons that formed a white leotard. She lifted her arms and white gloves with red trim appeared. A red mini-skirt and yellow bows appeared on her leotard. She spun around and kicked up a leg and red knee high boots materialized. Her hair unraveled its ponytail and became a waist length full mane. Red earrings and a gold tiara appeared on her head with a fiery red gemstone in the center. Her face got a full makeup treatment. Sailor Sun then landed on the ground and made a pose.  
  
Ryoga fainted.  
  
  
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A long-range speedboat came quickly into Tokyo harbor. Two Austrian looking men wearing trench coats and dark sunglasses came ashore. The boat sped away back to its base. The two men took a look around and began to walk to Juuban.   
  
  
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Ryoga woke up in an unfamiliar location. He was in a forest deep in the center of Japan. He looked around and found his backpack cleaned, his clothes washed and a new supply of food. His tent was set up and a small campfire was lit. He thought that he must of had a strange dream. He looked at his body and he was the picture of health. "Whew. That was weird."  
  
"What was weird?" A female voice called out from on top of his head.  
  
Ryoga recognized the voice and didn't at the same time. He made a guess, "Ranma? Get off my head!"  
  
"Guess again."  
  
"Fine, if you want to be Ranko. I'll call you Ranko." He shook his head and the person jumped off and in front of him and it turned out to be Sailor Sun.  
  
"Were you expecting Akane?" Sun said sarcastically.  
  
"Where is she?" Ryoga demanded.  
  
"Is this how you repay someone who saved your miserable life?"  
  
"Huh?" Ryoga took a step back. He looked at himself, the campsite and his things. "How did you?" He looked at Sailor Sun, "What are you?"  
  
"I'm the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Sun."  
  
"Run that by me again Ranma."  
  
Behind Ryoga came another voice. "I'm the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Io."  
  
Ryoga spun around and saw Sailor Io. Ryoga knew it was Akane. He just didn't remember why. "Akane?"  
  
"Yes P-Chan." She giggled.  
  
No! No! No! Ryoga dropped to his knees and held his head in despair.  
  
Sailor Sun came forward, "You fell unconscious. You were almost dead when we took you to a friend of ours who healed you. Too bad the nurse bathed you with cold water first. You should have heard her scream."  
  
Ryoga's mind was spinning. Oh no! I transformed in front of a nurse! Oh the shame!  
  
Sailor Io crossed her arms. "Guess who was the nurse."  
  
Ryoga turned white. "What were you doing there?"  
  
Io tapped her foot, "When I heard that you were at the hospital waiting to be treated by Saturn, I had Sun here bring me there."  
  
"You owe me your life a second time bacon breath." Sun said smugly. "She wanted to serve sausage right there and then to the hospital staff. If I hadn't stopped her, you would have been dinner for six."  
  
Ryoga tried to accept the fact that his dark secret was out. "Forgive me..."  
  
Io went over to Ryoga and gave him a hug. "I'm so sorry to hear about Akari."  
  
Ryoga flooded into the darkest regions of despair. He finally found it inside himself to let out the grief he held back and fell to the floor.  
  
He gave a gentle weep, for the unrequited love for Akane and the loss of his soul mate Akari. He looked at Sun with a new purpose, "Who killed her?"  
  
"Akari? We are not totally sure yet. Whatever it is, it's trying to kill everybody. We are looking for it."  
  
Ryoga jumped up to Sailor Sun and held her dress by the collar. He meant business. "Looking for it?"  
  
Sun got wide eyed; she knew if she said the wrong thing, Ryoga would go ballistic. "We are close."  
  
Ryoga made the demand of all demands, "You find him. I want in! Understand!"  
  
"Uh... If you say so."  
  
"RANMA! YOU GIVE ME YOUR WORD! YOU FIND HIM! I WANT IN!" Ryoga raised a battle aura higher that Sun had ever seen before.  
  
Sun raised herself to be at eye level with Ryoga, "You wouldn't last five seconds against its army."  
  
Ryoga looked her in the eye. "That's all the time I need."  
  
Sun gulped. "Ryoga, I swear as a martial artist, I'll bring you."  
  
Ryoga let go of Sun and she fell to the ground.  
  
Sun stood back up. "Well we've got to go. I also left you a ceramic kettle and a heating unit. Just in case you pork out."  
  
Io went to Ryoga. "Be careful."  
  
Ryoga stared at Sun with revenge on his mind. "Don't you break your word!"  
  
Sun stood steadfast. Io went up to her and held her tight. "Sun Beam Transport!" They disappeared.  
  
Ryoga was alone again. He was staying put. Ranma may have been an obnoxious, ignorant, insensitive jerk. Ryoga knew. He or she will be back.  
  
Ryoga went bug eyed and froze. Wait? Why was Akane calling herself Sailor Io?  
  
  
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Author's Notes: I wonder if those two men look like a famous bodybuilder?  
  
Some people have asked, how did Ryoga recognize Sailor Io as Akane? Well, when I wrote this, the discovery scene ended up being so large and so funny that I felt that it would make a better side story than included in the main story. To keep continuity, I had to keep that part since he did see Akane detransform at the hospital before she chased him all over the place trying to kill him.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 17, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	23. Termination order 1172

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 22 Termination order #1172  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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The door read "Mizuno." A man in a trench coat approached the door. He knocked gently. He didn't give a hint of emotion as he waited patiently for someone to answer. He called out, "Special delivery for Ami Mizuno. Could you please sign for it?"  
  
A minute passed. The figure turned to his companion who was waiting at street. The other gave an all-clear signal and the first man grabbed the door handle and gently forced the door open. He entered the home and looked around. He found Ami's bedroom and started to go through her things. He found her computer and disassembled it and removed its hard drive. He put the drive in his pocket. He put the computer back together again.  
  
The man continued to look around the room looking for any information he could use to locate her. It found maps to a shrine, several addresses and a small phone book. He found her diary. Every piece of printed material, the man simply looked at each and every page and placed the book exactly where it was found. The data would be analyzed in detail later.   
  
The man went to Ami's mother's room. There he did the same thing again, stole her hard drive, viewed printed material of a personal nature and put everything back exactly where it was found.  
  
The kitchen, bathroom, and dining room were searched. Scraps of paper by the answering machine were checked. There was no power in the apartment so the answering machine was useless.  
  
Satisfied that the room had given all its secrets, the man went out the front door into the night.  
  
The man joined his companion and they walked to a nearby alley. The first man stood there for half an hour digesting the information he had collected. He found what he was looking for. In a diary, there were the names of eleven people with a strange symbol next to most of the names. The symbols represented planets and the moon. The name Ranma Saotome had the Japanese symbol for "Ni" or Sun next to it and Akane Tendo had the symbols "Ah" "E" "O". The word Tendo was crossed out and Saotome was written above it in smaller script. The planet list matched the partial list of the names of the girls in Los Angeles and San Francisco.  
  
He looked into the red eyes of his partner and via infrared transmission, transmitted a copy of all the data.  
  
They both knew the most likely location of Ami Mizuno. She was probably with her mother at the hospital where she worked.  
  
They left to pay a visit to Dr. Mizuno.  
  
  
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News of the Senshi healing people in Juuban had reached all of Tokyo. The line stretched for kilometers. Sailor Mars thought that this was getting way out of hand. She, like all the other Senshi, wanted so desperately to help the people of Tokyo, but she didn't think this was the right way of doing it. She wanted to find the people responsible for the destruction of Japan and drop them into a pit of boiling acid.  
  
Sailor Io and Sun felt the same way. They were playing nursemaid while Sailor Saturn was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion. Sailor Uranus and Neptune had to force Saturn to take breaks from time to time, but Saturn just saw the looks of happiness when someone saw a loved one who had come back from almost being dead. It kept her going. It was too much. After healing another burn victim, Saturn finally fell over. Neptune cradled her daughter in her arms and Uranus had to tell the people that they were going to wait until she got some rest.  
  
The people in line were not happy about that and they almost started a riot. It took six Senshi over five minutes to calm the crowd down. Sun teleported Saturn to the space station. She would get some rest in private. She took a few more trips to shuttle Neptune and Uranus as well. The three Senshi got some badly needed rest.  
  
Sun was about to leave back to the hospital when she spied on Pluto. Pluto had been at the computer console for days now. Sun used her stealth technique and snuck up on Pluto to see what she was doing.  
  
On the screen was an image of Earth. Pluto was zooming in and out looking at locations on the planet for something. Earth looked strange. Instead of a familiar blue green planet, most of the northern hemisphere was covered in a black cloud. Pluto was muttering to herself about how the cloud as blocking her view.  
  
Sun asked, "What's that cloud?"  
  
Pluto jumped out of her chair and almost hit the ceiling, "AHHH!!!!" She came back down and tried to punch Sun. Sun easily dodged the blow.  
  
"Don't scare me like that!" Pluto was trying to catch her breath.  
  
"Well? Why is the Earth so dark?" Sun was curious.  
  
"It's called nuclear winter. The bombs kicked up so much dirt and ash that some areas of the world are in complete darkness."  
  
"Oh. Sorry I asked."  
  
Pluto gave an evil smirk. "I need a favor from you."  
  
Sun drooped and sunk to the floor. Favors for Pluto were never good, "Oh man."  
  
Uranus and Neptune came running into the room. They wanted to see what the scream was for. Pluto calmed them, "Oh, it's just Sun being obnoxious."  
  
Neptune and Uranus shrugged and went back to be with Saturn.  
  
Sun muttered from her place on the floor, "I'm not obnoxious."  
  
  
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There was a large crowd of people milling about the Juuban hospital. The word already got out that the healer had left and people were upset. Two men in different areas were asking questions. Where was Dr. Mizuno? Have you heard of Sailor Io? Have you seen Ami Mizuno? Do you know where I can find Sailor Pluto? Do you know Sailor Sun?  
  
Most people had no idea who they were talking about. The men found a healthy young boy and he told them that the Sailor Senshi were in the hospital.  
  
One of the men approached the main lobby. The guards denied him entrance. The man looked beyond the guards and sized up the entryway. He looked at the nearest guard and said, "I'll be back."  
  
He walked away. He'll be back soon.  
  
  
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Sailor Sun complained, "Now I'm a television."  
  
Pluto was pushing her on. "Concentrate! What do you see?"  
  
Sailor Sun was focusing her teleportation magic on an address on a map. Instead of actually invoking her spell and teleporting there, she was just looking at the destination as a quick way to see what Pluto was looking for. "I see a flattened landscape. I really mean flat. Like it was a plain of melted glass."  
  
"Well I guess these Houston addresses are a lost cause." Pluto crossed off the address of an Omni-Consumer Products warehouse that was near the NASA space center.  
  
Pluto sunk in her chair and gave out a deep sigh. "It's going to take months to go through these addresses." She tossed her list that she got from Mercury so long ago onto the desk.  
  
Sun's mind was far away. She was thinking about her father. She gave out a big sigh.  
  
"What's with the sigh?"  
  
"I hope those men who killed my dad were barbecued. If they were, then there is some justice in the world."  
  
Pluto wanted to listen to what happened to Sun's dad, "You never told me what happened to your father."  
  
"My dad worked at a place called the Itabashi Spice factory. He was only there for a couple of days and then he disappeared. The police say he stole some chemicals and poisoned himself. I know my dad. He wouldn't do anything that stupid." Sun thought about how dumb her dad was, but he didn't do anything that would harm other people like that.  
  
"Go on." Pluto was intrigued.  
  
"Well, later I snuck in the place. It was totally automated. Almost no people worked there. I know he died there. They covered it up. I just don't know why on earth anyone would kill my dad."  
  
"Automated? What was this place again?" Pluto grabbed the list of addresses and pulled out the section for Japan.  
  
"It was the Itabashi Spice Factory."  
  
Pluto looked up the city of Itabashi and there it was. It had a designation next to it as 'Automated'. Pluto remembered seeing several factories with this designation. She turned to Sun, "Want to take a trip to Itabashi?"  
  
Sun shot a glance at Pluto. It was not a question. It was a demand. Sun slowly stood up and raised her arms. She turned her eyes to the ceiling, "One taxi coming right up."  
  
Pluto wrapped her arms around Sun. Sun gave a half smirk, "We've got to stop meeting like this." They flashed out.  
  
The two Senshi appeared at the remains of the Itabashi Spice factory. There was hardly anything left. Ground zero was only a few hundred meters away. It was as if someone wanted to wipe this place clean off the face of the earth.  
  
The faint traces of the perimeter wall were still visible that gave an idea of how large the facility was. Pluto was impressed. She thought about this. "Sun, they made spice here? It's pretty big for just salt and pepper packaging."  
  
"I wondered about that too. It was all automated. Io and I only sensed three people working here."  
  
"Three people!" Pluto got wide eyed. She got a glimmer of hope. Wheels turned in her mind. "There has to be a power source somewhere."  
  
"Power source? Oh no, you are not using me as a battery again!" Sun didn't like it when Mercury had her recharge the station's power cells. It was an experience she would rather forget.  
  
"Not you! If my hunch is right, this factory made more than spice. They would have planned for the loss of power after an attack." Pluto started looking at the melted concrete looking for anything out of the ordinary.  
  
"They made board games and stuffed toys." Sun let her body slump. Pluto was not listening to her. Sun remembered the large storage area, the one that looked so empty and out of place. She went over to that area.  
  
The floor of the former storage room was flat except for a small indentation in the concrete like someone drained the filling from a pie and it sank. Sun stood at the edge of the sinkhole. It was only depressed by six centimeters, but it was there. She turned to Pluto to call her over but Pluto was already there.  
  
"Sun, can you teleport down there?"  
  
"Into solid rock? No way pal!"  
  
"I mean, check if there is a room down there." Pluto was miffed.  
  
"Ok, ok." Sun concentrated and found that there was a chamber down there, a pretty large one. "Well I'll be." Sun held Pluto and they flashed down.  
  
It was pitch black. Sun concentrated her ki and made a small blue ball of light in her hands. It was not much better than a candle, but it was better than nothing.  
  
Pluto tried to look around; she couldn't make out a thing. "Is there a way we can light up this place?"  
  
"Sure!" Sun put out the ki and cast "Solar Beam!" A beam of light came from her index finger and started slicing into the wall. As she held onto the light beam, it lit up the room.  
  
"Just what are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?" Pluto was furious, Sun could have shot that beam into a box of dynamite for all she knew. Pluto then noticed the room was lit up enough to see. She sighed. "Ok, just try not to aim that at something flammable."  
  
"All right." Sun just stood there drilling a hole into the wall with her beam.  
  
The main entrance was completely sealed with concrete. The way it was splashed around gave away the fact that it was hastily poured to fill the elevator shaft and staircase that led to this chamber. Someone went to a lot of trouble to hide this room.  
  
Pluto found where she was looking for. In the center of this large room was an array of power generators and thousands of barrels of fuel. This place could have run for months without any source of external power. She decided to tell Sun later who killed her father. She didn't trust that pyromaniac to be anywhere near those fuel barrels when she got the news.  
  
There were no papers or other materials in the room of any real use. Only the inventory list of VX Nerve Gas had any meaning, but they were all marked, "Destroyed".  
  
"Let's go back. I've seen enough." Pluto stood next to Sun.  
  
"I've seen enough too." Sun dropped her beam. She didn't want to be here. It reminded her too much of the loss of her father. Sun took Pluto back to the station.  
  
Sun fell to the floor snoozing. Pluto wondered if it was because of the teleportation or that new little trick with the light beam that Sun just showed her.  
  
  
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Sailor Moon was not happy about the way people were reacting to the news that Saturn was sleeping. She understood that people wanted to be helped, but there were limits to even what the Senshi could do. She talked to the leader of the Japanese security force and told them that she wanted to make a speech later that day. She wanted to assure the people of Tokyo that things would be all right.  
  
Moon had Mars and Jupiter help build a makeshift podium. It wasn't pretty, but will have to do.  
  
Moon, Mars and Jupiter didn't notice the two men watching them from afar.  
  
  
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Sun woke up and resumed her role as a remote camera. She was not happy about this.  
  
Pluto found every factory on the list marked "Automated". It narrowed the field to forty-five locations. Only Itabashi was destroyed, all the others were spared the bombings. She thought that maybe Itabashi was destroyed intentionally since it was odd that the bomb should have hit Tokyo, but was conveniently off course. She was actually happy about that. Hundreds of thousands of lives were spared because of this near miss instead of a direct hit.  
  
Pluto thought aloud, "If I was a super computer bent on world destruction, where would I be?"  
  
Sun dropped her concentration, "As far away from you as possible."  
  
Pluto turned to stone. "What did you say?"  
  
Sun yawned, she was bored out of her mind, "I said, I would want to be as far away from you as possible."  
  
Pluto thought aloud, "Where could I hide that would be far away from my enemies? Yet close enough so that I could keep control of my army?"  
  
Sun thought about her recent victory, "You mean those things we fought?"  
  
"What did you fight?" Pluto was confused.  
  
"Those silver flying things. There were a whole bunch of them trying to kill these soldiers near Los Angeles. Moon had us blast them all." Sun smiled, she was proud of herself taking out two of them as soon as she woke up from her teleportation screw up.  
  
"Describe them to me in detail." Pluto gave Sun a glare. Moon didn't tell her they came back from a battle.  
  
Sun described the flying machines, Pluto turned white. She pulled out of her list the factory entry near Los Angeles. "Sun, look at Valencia California."  
  
Sun held out her hand, "Hand me the map." She took the map. Concentrated, "I see... Whoa!"  
  
Pluto got excited. "What is it?"  
  
"They got a GREAT amusement park there. Those rides look like fun!"  
  
Pluto dropped her head on the desk. "NO! Look at the factory!"  
  
"Darn. Well, it looks like there is life there since there are a lot of people... Wait..."  
  
"People? There are people there?" Pluto didn't expect that.  
  
"Those aren't people. I can't sense anything from them. They are about two kilometers away from the amusement park. There is a huge factory like what I saw in Itabashi only much bigger. They have a lot of silver flyers and white rubber skinned people. There are also metal men, lots of them, I mean a lot of them."  
  
Pluto turned to the console and directed the scanner to Valencia. She saw the army on her screen. The army was sending a large group to the north. The rest were working on building an extension to the factory.  
  
Sun's communicator beeped. "Sun here."  
  
Moon was on the screen. "We need you and Pluto to come here, I'm going to give a speech and I'd like as many Senshi with me."  
  
Sun turned to Pluto, "Well?"  
  
Pluto pulled out her communicator, "Moon, I'm really close to our enemy. I need to stay here."  
  
"Ok, Pluto, do you need Sun with you right now?"  
  
Sun got up, "I'd like to go." She wanted to be with Io.  
  
Pluto pointed her finger at Sun, "Don't you dare turn off your communicator. I will call you and I'll need you quickly. Got that?"  
  
"Fine. I'll keep it on." She flashed out. She really wanted to be as far away from her as possible. Eight light minutes just didn't seem far enough away.  
  
  
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Sailor Moon approached the podium. Surrounding her were Sailors Mars, Jupiter, Io and Venus. Mercury was busy waking up Sun since she fell asleep again. Moon faced the crowd that was before her at the stairs to the hospital. She was completely nervous, but she had to do something to help her future subjects.  
  
Sailor Moon took a deep breath and faced the people. "People of Japan. People of the world. I stand before you to let you know that everything that can be done is being done to bring those who did this to our nation, our world, will be brought to justice. We have to work together to get through this. We as human beings are capable of incredible amounts of compassion and hope. It's that compassion that I am asking you all to give for your fellow man. We are not the only nation suffering. We've been to other countries in the world and we are all victims of this horrible tragedy."  
  
Moon placed her hands on the mike and held it close. She wanted so bad to have everyone in the audience to feel hope for the future. She wanted to make everyone forget the despair and pain of their losses if but for a moment.  
  
"Please, don't hurt each other or lose trust in your fellow man. It's that distrust that our enemy wants. Our enemy is an enemy of mankind and it wants nothing more that the deaths of everyone you love. If you harm a fellow human, you are no better than our enemy. Let's work together. Let's show love to each other. Let's feel for one another. Let's show our enemy that we will not be defeated and we will not obey. Our enemy wants us to turn on each other."  
  
"The Americans have a saying, 'United we stand, divided we fall.' I say we stand united. We must all live for the ideals of truth, justice and love for everyone."  
  
Behind Sailor Moon came Sun and Mercury, they stood among the Senshi giving their support to their princess.  
  
The two men scanned Mercury. They looked at each other and the first man left his place and started walking towards the podium.  
  
"Right now medical supplies are coming in and we are helping everyone we can. Please understand that we are human as well and we need to rest. We will always be here for you. We love you all."  
  
Sailor Moon took a little bow to the audience. The other Senshi bowed as well. The crowd made a gentle bow back to the Sailor Senshi.  
  
Sailor Moon turned the mike off and started up the stairs back to the hospital. Io was walking behind Mercury and saw a red dot on the back of her head. "Mercury, what's that?"  
  
Sun shoved Mercury to the floor right as a bullet went zooming over her head. Sun screamed, "Take cover!"  
  
The Senshi scattered, some jumping to the third floor of the hospital, Venus jumped over the bush on the side of the stairs. Io jumped up to a second floor window and turned around to see who fired the shot. The man fired again and Sun took a bullet in the arm. She held Mercury and beamed out to the interior of the hospital.  
  
The two appeared on a corridor floor about two meters in the air. They fell with a loud thud. "Sun, are you ok?" Mercury saw that Sun was bleeding.  
  
"Just a flesh wound." Sun lied, she was holding a frown and held her wound closed and fighting the urge to collapse. "I don't think I can teleport again right now."  
  
"I'll get you a bandage." Mercury ran off to the nursing station.  
  
Sun thought about what just happened. She didn't sense any evil before the shot. Therefore it must have been one of those metal men in the audience and they wanted... Oh no! "Mercury!" Sun stood up and bumped into the wall and started briskly walking to the nursing station that Mercury went to.  
  
Downstairs, the T-800 saw the teleportation flash and the target disappear. It concluded that they must have had a flash grenade and ran inside since it couldn't detect a heat signature of the two using infrared. It went to the front door and produced an UZI sub-machine gun. The soldiers fired at the man's chest, which did nothing to him. The man shot both soldiers dead and tried to open the door. A Crescent Beam came from Venus and hit the man in the back. His shirt ripped open but he ignored the damage and entered the building.   
  
Venus was amazed, no one could have taken a hit like that and survived. She leapt to the third floor window where Moon and Jupiter ran into. She had to warn them.  
  
Io was on the second floor when she saw her female husband teleport out. She breathed a sigh of relief that she and Mercury were safe. She saw the man walk into the front door and Venus blasted him. She thought he must have been killed. She went to the elevator to get to the third floor.  
  
The T-800 terminator marched into the hospital and pushed everyone aside. He had already seen that Dr. Mizuno was stationed on the third floor on the hospital black board. He was going to start there. People were panicking and running out of the hospital away from the man with the gun. He got to the elevator and entered the first car. He pressed three. He turned to the two people in the elevator car who were cowering in the corner. He slowly ordered, "Get out!" They got out. The door shut.  
  
Io heard the up elevator light go ding. She walked over and got a feeling of danger. Her martial arts skills were giving her the warning, not her Senshi senses. This was a bad thing. The door slid open and a man pointed a gun at Io. She quickly threw a ki blast and knocked the gun out of the man's hand. He reached into his coat and pulled out a shotgun. Io cast "Lava Blast" directly into the man's chest setting him afire. The elevator doors closed. Io ran to the stairway to make sure the job was done.  
  
Moon, Jupiter and Mars met Sun and Mercury at the nursing station. Sun started the conversation, "Mercury, they seem to be after you."   
  
Mercury was aghast, "Why would anyone want to kill me?"  
  
Sun grimaced as Jupiter wrapped a bandage on her arm, "Ask Mr. Nice Guy. The one who shot at you? He had a laser sight on his gun, that's how I knew he was going to shoot."  
  
Moon asked the group, "Do you think it knows about us?"  
  
Venus came in the room out of breath, "I shot the thing and it didn't even phase it."  
  
All the other girls gave a collective shout, "WHAT!"  
  
They heard a scream from the elevator area; a burning man came out of the elevator car and slowly walked out and came around the corner. The Senshi couldn't believe what they were seeing. The man stopped in his tracks and fell face forward on the ground burning brightly and giving off a terrible smell of a burnt roast.  
  
Mercury stood ahead and cast "Shabon Spray" to put out the fire. Sun called out, "Mercury, Don't go near it!"  
  
The man heard the word Mercury and jumped off the ground and landed on Mercury. He held her throat tight and shattered her neck. The man had no flesh. It was a pure silver metal endoskeleton with glowing red eyes. It was a mockery of the human body.  
  
Moon screamed "MERCURY!"  
  
Jupiter cast "Supreme Thunder Dragon" at the terminator. The lightning shook the whole corridor and short-circuited the machine. The eyes went dark.  
  
The Senshi went to their fallen comrade. It was too late. Mercury's head fell at an unnatural angle. Jupiter picked up the body of Mercury and carried it away with Moon and Venus following.  
  
Mars and Io filled with rage. They each took turns blasting the metal corpse until only fragments remained. Sun had to stop them from destroying the hospital. Mars and Io collapsed in tears. Sun took them to where the rest of the Senshi were.  
  
They were hiding in a closet. Mercury changed back into Ami. They felt her life force go out. Jupiter was crushed that her best friend lay dead in her arms. The others were stricken with grief.  
  
Moon was the first to admit it. "We are not safe here anymore. We have to leave."  
  
Sun didn't have to be told. She carried the body of their fallen friend and teleported her to the station. The remaining five formed a circle to do the Sailor Teleport. Io felt out of place that she was taking Mercury's spot. They beamed out.  
  
Dr. Mizuno came from the fourth floor too late to see her daughter. She couldn't tell anyone why she was weeping for Mercury. She had to keep daughter's secret safe for all time.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: TERMINATION ORDER #1172 AMI MIZUNO COMPLETED."  
  
"COMMAND: FIND AND TERMINATE IF POSSIBLE THE OTHER SAILOR SENSHI. LIST CONTAINS TEN NAMES. REINFORCEMENTS WILL ARRIVE SHORTLY."  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Author's Notes: Skynet doesn't screw around. What kind of reinforcements would Skynet send?  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 19, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	24. The vow

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 23 The vow  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Sun was in agony, she teleported with Ami and twisted her bad arm. She could feel the bullet fragments being forced out by the Senshi healing magic. She bit her lip and used all her might to lay Ami on the medical table. Mamoru was already sealed in a box in the storage room. Sun didn't want to think about Ami being placed alongside him.  
  
Sailor Uranus came to see what the loud groan was about. She saw Sun sprawled out on the floor of sickbay. She was surprised to see Ami in human form on the table. Sun was using all her effort to stay conscious. She turned to look at Uranus, "Get Saturn here now!" Sun squeezed her bandage to help deaden the pain. She fell down and hit the floor.  
  
Uranus froze. She got a good look at Ami and saw her neck was purple and wasn't the right shape. She staggered back and ran to get Saturn.  
  
The other Senshi beamed in. They ran into sickbay and stood in a circle around Ami. Saturn gave a look of pure shock at seeing her friend in this condition. The other Senshi gave looks of hope to each other and said little prayers waiting for a miracle.  
  
Saturn placed her hands on Ami's neck and the healing magic refused to work. Saturn began to cry. She ran her hands on Ami's head, her heart and her chest. Nothing worked. Saturn didn't want her friend to be this way. Saturn kept trying again and again; she didn't want to give up. Her friend was hanging on by a thread. She wanted to believe it. She wanted a miracle.  
  
Thirty minutes went by and nothing was accomplished. Sun woke up and joined Mars and Jupiter and they sat in a little circle silently in mourning. Venus and Moon stood by Ami holding her hands hoping that she would awaken in any moment.  
  
Io went to Moon, "It's over."  
  
Moon turned to Io with an expression of anger, "It's NOT over! She can't be dead! She just can't be!" Sailor Moon lost it. She fell to her knees before Io and openly cried. "We are all supposed to be together in the Crystal Millennium!" Venus and Saturn lowered their heads and pulled away their hands. Everyone lowered their heads and mourned.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The single T-800 approached the home on the outskirts of Juuban. The diary said that four Senshi lived at this address. One was listed as a young girl. It went to the front door and knocked. "Candy gram for Hotaru."  
  
It waited and knocked again. It gently forced the door open. It searched the house and found that it had not been occupied for over a week. It found names and addresses of relatives in distance parts of Japan. It will visit these people in due time.  
  
It went to the garage area and found the cars that belonged to Haruka. It found her motorcycle and examined it for traps. It found the keys hanging on a hook in the kitchen and tried to start the bike. The bike refused to start. The machine took an hour going through spare parts and repaired the motorcycle. It filled the tank by siphoning gasoline from the sports car and sped off to the Saotome's.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The other Senshi were in the dining area with Kasumi collectively in mourning. Saturn was devastated. No amount of effort she put into her healing magic could undo what was done to her friend. Pluto could still hear an occasional scream of anguish from Jupiter or Venus. Pluto was cold as ice. She took a deep breath and entered sickbay.  
  
Pluto was alone with Ami. She gently touched Ami's head with her scepter. As before with Mamoru, she wanted to try to preserve the memories of those who had fallen. When it was time for them to be reborn, it would befall her or the felines to help revive the memories of their past lives.  
  
She hated this part. It was like in the Silver Millennium when Queen Beryl destroyed the moon kingdom. It took over one thousand years for the Senshi to be a complete team. Now, they are no longer whole again.  
  
Pluto thought, "This job sucks."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The T-800 approached a small apartment. The name on the door read 'Mr. and Mrs. Saotome'. The nameplate didn't compute. There were supposed to be two females at this residence yet the word 'Mr.' was listed. It assumed that this might have been a pseudonym used to throw off visitors. It knocked. In a female voice it said, "Avon calling."  
  
As before, it forced open the door and found an apartment that appeared to have been unused for some time. Dust and broken glass were everywhere. Only an area in the bedroom near the dresser drawer seemed to have been disturbed. It searched the home and found some papers that described a dojo in Nerima. This could have been the current location of the Saotomes. It checked the old dust covered mail on the floor near the mail slot and found an unopened letter.  
  
The letter from Shampoo read...  
  
To darling Ranma,  
  
I miss you. Why you no want Shampoo? I want you come to Cat Cafe. Please I want speak with you. My honor at stake. You visit. You have place here.  
  
Wo ai ni, (I love you),  
  
Shampoo  
  
The machine checked maps of Japan. The return address was in a location in Nerima. It would go there to see if Mr. Shampoo knew anything of value. Ms. Ranma Saotome had a place there. It was likely that she could be found there.  
  
The terminator got back on the motorcycle. It was bad to the bone. It checked its shotgun, UZI and Glock 34 with laser sight. It sped off to Nerima.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The T-800 found the remains of the Cat Cafe. The building was only about two meters high. The rest was blown away by the blast. It easily entered the cafe. The T-800 searched the area but found very little of value. Everything was burnt to a crisp or broken trash. It found a staircase filled with debris. It changed its vision to infrared and saw three heat signatures under the ground. One was a small signature, about the size of a child. The other two were adults. One of those people could be Mr. Shampoo. It began to dig out the basement stairway.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Shampoo was scared. They have been in the storeroom for over a week. The flashlight long ago ran out and Cologne refused to give Mousse the replacement set of batteries. Cologne had no idea how long they would have to stay down in the storeroom. She was concerned that Mousse would waste the batteries trying to woo Shampoo.  
  
Mousse was overjoyed that he was able to spend so much time in the company of Shampoo. Shampoo however kept stabbing Mousse's feelings in the heart by always pining for Ranma. Mousse was heartbroken when he heard Shampoo calling out for Ranma in her sleep. Mousse was frustrated. He thought, "Even if that creep is dead, she still wants him."  
  
There was a scraping sound at the door. Cologne awoke from her meditation and approached the door. She put her ear to the door and listened. She retreated back to Shampoo and held her granddaughter's mouth. "Shampoo, be quiet." She then used her walking stick to silence Mousse by touching his neck and knocked him out. She pulled the batteries from her hiding place and fixed the flashlight.  
  
The scraping got louder. Then the sound became digging. The sound became a loud sound of a shovel like tool hitting the door. Cologne felt danger coming from behind the door. "Quiet child." She told her granddaughter again.  
  
The digging from behind the door stopped. The doorknob started to jiggle. The door was locked. A knock came at the door. "This is the police. Is anyone alive in there?"  
  
Shampoo gave a little jump and tried to giggle in joy. She thought they were being rescued. Cologne grabbed Shampoo and held her mouth tight to keep her quiet. Cologne was worried. She knew this person would force his way in, and her danger sense was going into overdrive.  
  
The door shook. The door was being forced open but it held. The door was made of thin steel plates on a solid wood door. The door shook violently after a loud bang caused by a kick. Mousse woke up from all the noise and turned to look at the door. "What's going on?"  
  
Cologne was angry at the sound that Mousse made. It didn't matter since the intruder was coming in no matter what. "Shampoo! Mousse! Whoever is coming is not friendly." All three took defensive poses.  
  
The door was kicked down. A man blocked the door. It stood there looking at the three. It scanned them. None of them matched the girls it was looking for. "I am looking for Ranma Saotome."  
  
Shampoo turned cold and then angry. "Why you want husband?"  
  
Husband? It stopped for a moment as it tried to reason this out. Ranma is male. This woman in front of it must have been Akane Saotome. It turned to Cologne, "Old woman, identify."  
  
Cologne jumped forward and planted a kick in the terminator's chest. She bounced off and fell to the floor clutching her foot. "OW! Be careful, he's not human!"  
  
The machine pulled out an UZI 9mm submachine gun. It aimed it at Cologne. Mousse threw a clawed chain and yanked the gun away from the machine before it had a chance to pull back the action. The terminator pulled out a shotgun. Mousse sent another chain and disarmed it again. The machine started to walk into the room straight to Mousse.  
  
Mousse jumped in front of Shampoo. "You will not hurt my love!" Mousse charged and used a hidden blade and started to slice at the machines skin. He cut and punched but the machine simply acted as if he wasn't doing anything to it at all. The machine punched Mousse and flung him into a wall.  
  
The terminator faced Shampoo who raised her battle aura. "Akane Saotome, Identify." Shampoo charged at the mention of that hated name and struck the machines head with her bonbori. The clubs bounced off and it tried to grab Shampoo's arm. Shampoo was too fast and started a series of quick kicks to throw her opponent off balance. She only landed three blows before she jumped back. She underestimated the weight and body mass of this foe. She had to rethink her attack.  
  
The machine was pulling up pictures of Akane Saotome in its database and found no file. It found a file for Akane Tendo and this girl before it looked nothing like her. It concluded that Akane Tendo was Sailor Io and this girl was the wife of Ranma Saotome. The man next to her was Ranma Saotome since he called her his love.  
  
Cologne felt the danger level increase beyond words. "Shampoo! Don't get near it! Run!" She used all her might and threw her walking stick to trip the terminator's feet as it walked towards Shampoo. It almost tripped but its brute strength was able to snap the stick in two. Shampoo leapt to the side, did a flip and ran out the door. The terminator shifted its attention to Mousse. It struck with a clenched fist at Mousse's head but it missed. It looked around for its target and found a duck sitting in its place.   
  
Cologne held the small water bottle she squirted at Mousse. "You owe me duck-boy." The machine pulled back and could not accept the duck was Mousse. The duck started to bite the terminator's leg and it kicked the duck into the wall crushing his ribcage.  
  
The machine scanned the room. Ranma Saotome had escaped. It turned to the doorway and ran out looking for Akane. As the machine was running out the door, it grabbed a large can of broth and threw it at Cologne. She was stunned and was smashed against the wall. It wanted no one to follow it. It paused to pick up its weapons and ran up the stairs.   
  
Shampoo was gawking at the destruction of the cafe. She heard the can hit Cologne and realized that she had to make a break for it. She ran out into the street and ran as far as she could away from home. The machine was in hot pursuit.  
  
It saw Shampoo leap onto a nearby pile of debris and jump at high speed. It got on the motorcycle and gave chase.  
  
It drove at over one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour and never lost control. Shampoo saw that it was catching up to her so she started darting in random directions to lose it.  
  
Shampoo tried every trick she could think of to ditch her pursuer. She doubled back, she jumped through ruined buildings, and she even ran into the drainage ditch. The machine was always just right behind her. It pulled out its shotgun and started firing it at Shampoo. She was able to barely dodge the blasts with ki jumps and precisely timed dodges behind concrete barriers. She was getting tired and this guy showed no hint of giving up. Shampoo saw Furinkan High School ahead and thought the forest near it would be great cover. She ran for it.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Sun's Senshi sense kicked it. She could feel something was wrong on Earth. She heard a name being called from a familiar voice. "Ranma! Ranma! Save me!"  
  
Everyone at the table were either weeping for Mercury or just sitting comatose. Sun was sitting with her head down on the table when she suddenly sat up straight and gave a distant look. Sailor Io saw that Sun had stiffened. Io asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Shampoo. She's in trouble. I can feel it." Sun stared into space.  
  
Io thought about Shampoo and felt the same feeling. She knew what they have to do. She slid next to Sun and held her waist. "Ready when you are."  
  
Sun looked at her arm. It had mostly healed. It would take another hour to fully heal but it was good enough for now. "Let's go."  
  
The two Senshi vanished. A surprised Sailor Moon stood up and asked, "Where did they run off to?"  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The two Senshi appeared in the baseball field of Furinkan High School. Sun saw that Shampoo was heading this way. The two spread out and waited for Shampoo to arrive.   
  
In a moment, a tired Amazon leapt off of a large pile of debris and ran straight through the field. She saw the Senshi and ran toward them. "Help! He's after me!"  
  
Shampoo ran past Sun and stood behind them. "Big ugly man want kill Ranma! Help fight?"  
  
The two got wide eyed at that remark. They both turned to where a motorcycle engine sound was coming from. Sun without looking at Io asked, "I can dodge gunfire, can you?"  
  
Io smirked at Sun's wound, "Better than you."  
  
Sun looked at her arm, "Lucky shot."  
  
The machine rode toward the field and gunned the motorcycle's engine. It popped the front wheel up and crashed through the bent chain link fence and rolled at high speed down the embankment. It made a beeline towards Shampoo and slowed down. It scanned the Senshi and saw that these matched Sun and Io. It produced the Uzi and fired it at Sun.  
  
Sun jumped to the side and rolled on the ground. She gave a yelp of pain from her old wound. Io fired a Lava Blast at the motorcycle blowing it to pieces. The machine rolled on the ground and the gun flew out of its hand.  
  
Io saw where the thing landed and fired Lava Blast again to finish the job. She shattered the machines legs and set it on fire. She ran to aid Sun.  
  
"Oh man." Was all Sun could say. She underestimated how much of her wound was actually healed. She held her bandage tight to stop the throbbing and soften the pain.  
  
"Thank you Senshi." Shampoo made a little bow. Io and Sun giggled a little in the fact that Shampoo didn't recognized who they were. Sun liked Shampoo as a friend and had deep respect for her martial arts skill. Sun was glad that Shampoo wasn't going to drag her off to a wedding chapel. Shampoo innocently asked, "I have favor to ask. Can you take me to Ranma?" Sun drooped, maybe she was going to drag her off to get married.  
  
Sun groaned, she would bluff, "I don't know who Ranma is." Sun looked at the burning terminator and got a bad feeling. "Let's get out of here."  
  
Io had the feeling too, she turned to see the terminator was walking rapidly only using its arms for locomotion. It was the strangest thing that the three had ever seen. The machine was missing everything below the waist and was on fire balancing itself on the arms. It was moving back and forth in an attempt to approach them without giving them a clear shot.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Io fired Lava Blast again but the machine dodged it and jumped towards Sailor Sun. Sun rolled to the side ignoring the pain in her arm. She needed to focus for a moment to teleport. It was difficult to focus with a flaming half man trying to jump you.  
  
Shampoo threw a bonbori at the flaming thing that caused the skin to fly off exposing the metal underneath. Shampoo screamed at the sight before her. The machine took the advantage and grabbed her and held her throat.  
  
Io wanted to blast the thing but couldn't since Shampoo was in its grasp. She stood her ground.  
  
"Where is Ranma Saotome?" The machine demanded from Shampoo.  
  
"I don't know!" Shampoo gasped.  
  
"Tell me where is Ranma Saotome. NOW!" It tightened its grip.  
  
Sailor Sun stood up. "You want Ranma Saotome?"  
  
The machine turned to look at Sun. "Give the location of Ranma Saotome or I will kill her."  
  
Io saw what Sun was going to do. "Don't do it!"  
  
"I have your word. If I produce Ranma Saotome, you will release Shampoo unharmed." Sun ordered.  
  
The machine was confused. It checked its database and found Xian Pu was a match for the girl before it. The girl was not Akane Tendo. It turned its metal skull and uttered, "You have my word."  
  
Io held her hands in a pleading gesture, "Sun... Don't."  
  
Sun changed to Ranko. She was wearing her red chinese shirt and black pants. "I am Ranma Saotome."  
  
The machine was even more confused. The clothes changing before it didn't make logical sense. The diary did associate Sailor Sun with Ranma Saotome. The man in the basement was not Ranma Saotome. That was proof enough. "Come closer."  
  
Shampoo was wide eyed at Ranko was standing there. She was overjoyed that her beloved was going to rescue her. She looked at the machine holding her and realized that it was planning to kill Ranma. "Ranma! Get away."   
  
"Release Shampoo first." Ranko demanded as she took a step forward. She glanced at Io who was standing ready to blow the machine to bits.  
  
It snapped Shampoo's neck and released her. It charged Ranko. Ranko made a high ki jump which took the machine by surprise. It had calculated that its charge was inescapable. It calculated wrong. "Lava Blast!" Io sent a wad of lava at the machine ripping off on arm. It still kept moving.  
  
Ranko landed nearby, ignoring her pain she sent a ki blast, "Moko Takabisha" and blew the torso into tiny pieces with the head flying into the air.  
  
Both Ranko and Io had to take a deep breath. They examined the machine parts and were convinced that it wasn't going to get up again.   
  
They went over to Shampoo. Ranko took it hard. Shampoo was dead. Ranko couldn't handle this. She was losing too many friends to these robots. She buried her hands into her face and silently screamed.  
  
Io sat next to the distraught Ranko. "There was nothing you could have done." She held her female husband and looked down at Shampoo.  
  
"That thing had no honor. It didn't know the meaning of honor!" Ranko screamed. "It promised that it wouldn't hurt her." She clenched her fists and opened them again. "I've never had an opponent that had no honor like this."  
  
Ranko's soul filled with pure fury. She started to breath heavily and slowly shook her head from side to side in deep emotion. Images of everyone she knew who had suffered flashed though her head, Kasumi, Soun, Nabiki, and Konatsu. She vowed, "You bastards killed my mother. You killed Ukyou. You killed Ami. Now you killed Shampoo." She paused and held her fist tight, "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to make sure you pay for what you have done."  
  
Ranko slowly stood up and glanced around to see if anyone was around. She transformed back in to Sailor Sun. She went over to the head of the terminator and picked it up. A fierce aura of fire burned around her as she stared in the dead eyes of the metal skull. Like Sailor Moon so many times in the past, Sun made her speech, "This is our world. You shall not ruin it. There is no room in it for those without honor. By the power of our life giving Sun, I will punish you!"  
  
With the power of her fury and her Senshi magic, she crushed the skull in her hand.   
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Sun beamed to the Cat Cafe. She surveyed the damage and sighed. She held the lifeless body of Shampoo in her arms. "Why did you have to get involved in this?" She found the stairway to the basement and slowly walked down.  
  
Cologne was sitting at the bottom already in mourning. She already knew what happened. Mousse's unconscious duck body lay in a corner. Cologne didn't want him to make a scene.  
  
Cologne bowed, "Thank you for bringing her home Sailor Senshi."  
  
Sun gently placed her body down. "Please forgive me, I couldn't save her. She fought bravely. She died with honor. She gave honor to the Amazon tribe." Sun made a gentle bow and turned to leave.  
  
Cologne was a little suspicious. How did she know Shampoo was an Amazon? "What is your name?"  
  
Sun stopped. She turned around and gazed at Colognes eyes. "I am Sailor Sun."  
  
"Did you know Shampoo?" Cologne pried.  
  
Sun didn't want to lie. So she bowed her head and turned and slowly walked up the stairs.  
  
Io was waiting for her upstairs. She ran from Furinkan. Sun embraced Io and the two of them teleported to the space station.  
  
Cologne looked at her granddaughter. "Why?" She closed her eyes and thought about how she was going to tell Mousse.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: TERMINATION ORDER #1203 RANMA SAOTOME FAILED."  
  
"COMMAND: INVADE JAPAN. NO SURVIVORS."  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Author's Notes: Things are now going to go ballistic,  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 21, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	25. The Invasion of Japan

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 24 The invasion of Japan  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
Sailor Sun sat in a corner on a small steel stool in the power room. The cats had been staying in there since they got to the station to avoid putting Sun in a coma or having her go berserk and destroy the place. When Sun entered and claimed her spot, Artemis and Luna ran for cover. Sun was in a really bad mood and they didn't want to compound it by being in her presence.  
  
She had been sitting there ever since she and Io came back from Earth. She was in deep meditation. The other Senshi wouldn't have been concerned except for the fact that a hot flaming aura of fire had been surrounding her and started to ignite anything flammable near her. They were concerned she might blow up the power regulator by accident.   
  
Io told everyone to just leave Sun alone. She turned down the temperature setting of the thermostat to compensate for the excess heat coming from Sailor Sun. Io had never seen Sun in this way and hoped that she would never see her like this again.  
  
Io went back to the dining area where Sailor Moon and Pluto were leading a meeting with all the other Senshi discussing possible locations for Skynet's base. Io sat down and joined the meeting. Sailor Moon took a deep breath and asked, "So Io, what happened down there?"  
  
Io's face sagged. "We went to rescue a friend. We failed."  
  
The collective faces around the table fell. Moon continued, "Who was it?"  
  
Io explained, "Her name was Shampoo. We've known her for a while. A robot was looking for Ranma and somehow thought she knew where she was."  
  
Sailor Venus was puzzled, "Shampoo? Wasn't that the girl who wanted to marry Ranma because of some Amazon law?"  
  
"Yes, that's her. She's not really a bad person. She's just taking her traditions a little too seriously." Io sighed. She had hoped all this time that Shampoo would just take a hint and run off with Mousse. She never deserved anything like this. Even when Shampoo was trying to kill Io, it was all to win over Ranma. Io felt sorry for Shampoo.  
  
Moon got back to business, "Why was it after Ranma?"  
  
"I have no idea. It kept demanding to know where she was."  
  
Pluto came forward, "What kind of robot was it? Was it the same as the one who came after Mercury?"  
  
"Yes, it was identical in every way. It was also very tough. It took several attacks to bring it down."  
  
The girls looked at each other and became concerned. The victory in Los Angeles was too easy and they got overconfident. The machine at the hospital and the one that Io and Sun met were much tougher. Mars tapped her fingers on the table, "So I take it. These robots are as tough if not tougher than a youma?"  
  
Io thought about how the battle compared to fighting a youma. "I think these things are tougher, much tougher." Io sank in her chair. "I made a mistake and thought that it was dead. I cut it in half. It didn't die. It... It killed Shampoo." Io started to sniff. "I... I..." She placed her arms on the table and laid her face down on them.  
  
Sailor Moon sat down in her chair. "You didn't know."  
  
"I should have known that that wasn't enough. I should have hit it again." Io buried her head in her arms. She felt guilty.  
  
Pluto sat in contemplation, "First Ami, then Ranma..." A revelation took over her and she stood up, "Wait, you said it wanted Ranma?"  
  
"Yes, it wanted Ranma."  
  
"It didn't want Sailor Sun?"  
  
"It was only asking for Ranma." She shook her head in thought. "It did come after us. It shot at Sun with a machine gun instead of Shampoo."  
  
Pluto sank back into her chair. "It knows our names."  
  
Sailor Neptune was upset, "How can that be?"  
  
Mars gasped, "Grandfather!"  
  
Venus's eyes glazed over. Uranus stared at the ceiling, "Now we can't ever go back."  
  
Sailor Moon thought of her family. She hadn't seen them in over a week and they were probably worried sick. Now, they might be in danger. She held out a little hope, "We don't know that."  
  
Io sat up. "Yes we do." She remembered the motorcycle; it was Uranus's bike. She turned to Uranus, "It was riding your bike."  
  
Uranus turned pale. "No. That means it was at my house!"  
  
Io apologized, "Sorry, I had to blow it up."  
  
Uranus was not happy thinking that a machine had been to her home and took her bike. Visions of her home being violated danced in her head. She didn't even want to think about what would have happened had they been home when it stopped by. Uranus massaged her temple in thought.  
  
Jupiter put it together, "Dr. Mizuno. That's why it came to the hospital. It knew Ami's mother worked there and came to see if we were there."  
  
Venus tried to disprove it, "Everyone knew we were at the hospital."  
  
Mars heart sunk, she reclined in her chair, "So my grandfather truly is in danger."  
  
Sailor Moon slammed her fist on the table, "In case you hadn't noticed, everyone is in danger." Outwardly, Moon was showing a face of a stern commander, inwardly she was crying like a baby. She so badly wanted to go home and forget the whole thing.  
  
Pluto brought everyone back to the original subject, "We can save everyone if we just find where Skynet is hidden. We destroy it and we can then deal with rest. As long as that computer still exists, people are going to keep dying." Pluto started to turn red with frustration, "Each passing day, we get weaker and it gets stronger. We can't waste time. We have to figure out where it's hidden."  
  
Io needed to catch up on the meeting. She composed herself and sat up holding her hands together. "So, where do you think it is?"  
  
Pluto was happy to hear that someone was focused on the job at hand. "The two most likely places are Taiwan or Southern California."  
  
"Why there?" Asked Io.  
  
Pluto explained, "Shortly after the initial attack, all communication with Taiwan was cut off. Mercury..." Pluto turned her eyes downward towards the table and took a breath. Everyone else also quietly took a moment of silence. "Mercury intercepted some ham radio signals saying they were being attacked by white skinned men. Yesterday, I looked at Taiwan and it's totally overrun with those machines. It's like every factory is now making robots like crazy there."  
  
Jupiter stood up, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go to Taiwan and kick its butt!"  
  
Pluto glared at Jupiter, "Oh, you want to take on an army of a million machines?"  
  
"A... A million?" Jupiter lost her determination to go to Taiwan.  
  
Pluto touched her chin with her gloved fingers, "Make that about ten million, last count."  
  
Jupiter sat down, "Ten... Ten million."  
  
Pluto spun in her chair and faced a white board with a crudely drawn map of Taiwan and Southern California. "I don't think it's in Taiwan. I think it's in California."   
  
"And why is that?" Asked Moon.  
  
"Women's intuition." Pluto stood up and marked some locations on the map. "First, the last location of CyberDyne Systems I could find was in Palo Alto. Then there was the station in San Francisco. The giveaway was what happened in Los Angeles. I ask you. Why did Los Angeles get gassed? I can understand Buenos Aries and Rio de Janeiro. Those cities would not have been nuked under normal circumstances. Los Angeles however, had a big fat bulls eye on it. Why didn't that city get hit?"  
  
The Senshi looked at each other and had no clue.  
  
Pluto plopped in her chair, "I'll tell you why. It's hiding somewhere there and didn't want to risk shooting itself. Taiwan was plastered with bombs." Pluto leaned forward, "The sad part is. Los Angeles is a huge city. There is a robot factory to the north of it in Valencia. I don't think it's near the factory."  
  
Mars looked around for the notes from Mercury, "Pluto, where is the list of places you had?"  
  
Pluto put the list on the table and slid it to Mars. Mars started to leaf through it. "Let's see. Factories, shopping malls, landfills, cement factories, computer companies, and car dealerships. What are the ones crossed out for?"  
  
Pluto answered, "Those are ones that I had Sun look at for me. They checked out."  
  
"What about the landfill?" Mars asked.  
  
"What about it? It's a garbage dump."  
  
Mars looked at the entry for the landfill. It was a huge facility. "Well, if you were going to hide something. Isn't a garbage heap a place you wouldn't look?"  
  
Jupiter slid over and took a look at the list, "How about the cement factory? If I was going to dig something underground, I'd need to get rid of the dirt."  
  
Pluto sat there wondering why didn't she think of this. She scratched her head and agreed. "Well then, I think that's where we'll search next." Pluto peeked down the hall and saw Sailor Sun walking towards the meeting. She had a look of determination on her. "Well, well, well."  
  
Sailor Sun got to the end of the table and placed her hands down and leaned toward the group. "Japan is in big trouble."  
  
Moon rolled her head up in her chair. She had had enough bad news. Jupiter asked, "How so?"  
  
"I've been searching all around Tokyo for those machines." Sun lifted herself off the table and walked to the white board. She drew a very bad rendition of Tokyo Bay and drew a dot offshore. "There they are."  
  
"What is that?" Neptune was curious about what could have been in the ocean.  
  
"A really big cargo ship." Sun turned to face the group. "I was searching Japan for those robots and I found them. The top of the ship is filled with those silver flying things we fought in California. The ship is about fifty kilometers from Tokyo."  
  
Jupiter was excited, "I say we go and kick their butts!"  
  
Moon was more level headed, which for Moon was not normal, "We need to think this out."  
  
Sun looked at Moon, "We don't have much time. They might be able to fly those things right now. For all we know they are attacking right now."  
  
Moon was not thrilled about going onto a cargo ship. Sun's did present a good reason to at least check it out. "Ok. We'll Sailor Teleport. Pluto, stay here and look at California and find that computer."  
  
Sailor Moon made a circle with the Inners with Io taking the place of Mercury. They took Uranus as their passenger. Sun grabbed Neptune. They left Saturn behind in case there was a problem and they needed a healer.  
  
  
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Sun and Neptune appeared on the bow of a gigantic cargo ship. There were cargo containers stacked five high and fifteen wide on the deck of the ship. They took a quick look around and got on the communicator and called in the rest who were standing in a field at Juuban High School.  
  
Jupiter looked at the red cargo containers. "I wonder what's in these things. Anyone got X-Ray vision?"  
  
The Senshi shrugged. Mars walked to the nearest container and examined the lock. "Looks like we will have to blast the door to see what's inside."  
  
Sun sighed, "I can see inside."  
  
The Senshi turned to her in amazement. Moon asked, "You have X-Ray vision?"  
  
Sun took a step back, "No, no! You can do it too. Try to teleport, focus on your destination but just don't teleport. You can see where you are focusing on."  
  
Moon made a tiny grin. "Cool!"  
  
Sun stood up straight. She focused on the container in front of her and started her teleportation magic. She saw the destination and saw the container was filled with rubber-skinned robots. Sun got angry. She focused on the adjacent container; it was filled with robots too. Sun got angrier. She concentrated on the container above. It was filled with ammunition. Sun lost it.  
  
Sailor Sun created an aura of flame and jumped to the top of the containers and ran off.  
  
Sailor Moon cried out, "Sun! Where are you going?"  
  
Sailor Io sensed danger, "We've got bigger problems." She darted to the port side of the ship in time to see a T-600 come around the corner with an AK-74 rifle in its hand. She shot out "Lava Blast" shattering the chest of the machine and knocked it overboard.  
  
Jupiter went to the starboard side and hit the T-600 coming around that corner with "Supreme Thunder Dragon"; it was electrocuted and completely shut down.  
  
Jupiter ran to the T-600 to make sure it was destroyed. It was a more primitive model than the T-800 at the hospital. It was not nearly as tough. Its whitish flesh toned rubber skin looked pretty stupid up close. It looked just like a misshapen store mannequin. Only in the dark under heavy clothing could this thing pass for a human.  
  
Mars came up with a plan. "I say we teleport out to sea. Blast the ship from afar and sink it."  
  
All the other Senshi agreed it was a great idea. Venus asked, "Uh... Where is Sun?"  
  
In response, machine gun fire could be heard coming from the other side of the ship. It was muffled, but there was no mistaking who they were shooting at. Moon was furious, "SUN!" She pulled out her communicator and dialed Sun's number. "Sun get back here! We are leaving."  
  
Sun heard the message and she ignored it. She was not leaving until she sent these things back to hell. She dodged the gunfire from the two pasty faced machines and found what she was looking for. It was the exact center of the ship. She took aim and cast, "Searing Plasma Blast!" One of the machines was blown to tiny bits. Sun ducked and rolled to avoid the incoming fire from the other machine.  
  
Moon called into her communicator again, "Sun get here NOW!" Behind her she heard the cargo container at deck level being smashed open. "Oh oh... Everyone, we're leaving." Moon reached out her hands to form the circle when the container burst open and ten robots immediately came streaming out.   
  
Venus jumped overboard while the others jumped onto the cargo containers. Io and Jupiter were too busy blasting the robots coming from the sides to notice.  
  
Venus realized what a stupid idea it was to jump off of a moving cargo ship in the middle of the ocean as she was falling. She cast, "Venus Love Me Chain!" She chained herself to the railing and swung like Tarzan onto the starboard side of the ship. Once she almost reached the highest part of her swing, she pretended to be Spiderman and cast her chain again and hooked another railing and swung again.  
  
Io heard the commotion behind her and saw the horde of machines coming after her. Some of them were busy opening a cargo container that was stocked with weapons. She leapt into the air and cast Lava Blast on them as she flew up to the containers above. Several machines were destroyed.  
  
Jupiter saw Venus's chain on the side railing and started following it. She ran alongside the ship blasting the single remaining T-600 in her way. She made it to halfway across the ship when she saw that Venus had stopped swinging. Jupiter looked down at Venus, "Hey there! Need a lift?"  
  
Venus smiled and Jupiter started pulling her up.  
  
Sailor Sun took aim again and blasted the final robot pinning her down with another Searing Plasma Blast. She took a stance and aimed directly down to the bottom of the ship. "This is for my friends! SOLAR BEAM!"  
  
She sent a beam of light into the container she was standing on and started to drill a hole. She was going to sink this vessel and send these hunks of junk to the bottom of the sea.  
  
Sailors Moon and Neptune finally ran in sight of Sailor Sun. They were aghast at what she was doing. Neptune cried out, "Sun! STOP!"  
  
Sun heard her but didn't listen. She was so focused in lasering the ship in half that it didn't dawn on her that one of the containers she was going to drill through was loaded with munitions.  
  
Neptune turned to Moon, "JUMP!" Neptune ran as fast as she could port side and leapt off the ship into the sea. Moon ran after her hitting her communicator, "Everyone, get off the ship!" Sailor Moon did a poorly executed dive off the vessel behind Neptune. Neptune hit the water with a precise splash. Moon hit the water with a huge belly flop. Neptune had to tow Sailor Moon away from the ship.  
  
Io heard the call but saw Sun in the center of the ship, she ran to her to give Moon's warning. Uranus and Mars jumped off the starboard side into the water below. Io was almost to Sun when the pyromaniac struck gold. The explosion was nothing short of spectacular. The cargo container Sun was standing on went skyward and dozens of containers and folded HK flyers went streaming in all directions.  
  
Io was knocked to the ground and held on for dear life. Jupiter fell overboard from the violent shaking landing on Venus on the way down. They both hit the water with a big splash. Moon and Neptune saw Sun go flying into the air. Moon was livid, "Just what was she thinking?"  
  
Io tried to stand up. The container she was laying on was losing stability and she knew she had better get off before it collapsed. She took a step towards the starboard side when the secondary and even more powerful explosion occurred. The explosion lit up most of the munitions stored deep in the vessel and lifted the midsection of the ship six meters in the air. The ship was completely sliced in half. Numerous tiny explosions popped like firecrackers inside the vessel and Io's container went flying. Io held onto her container for a moment and then lost her grip.  
  
Jupiter and Venus were knocked out cold from the concussion wave from the explosion that ripped the ship in half. They both floated in the water and a cargo container landed next to them sparing death by only a few meters. Mars and Uranus cried out for their friends and swam towards them ignoring the falling debris.  
  
Io was finally getting her bearings while she was in mid air and pushed herself away from the cargo container she was flying with. She took a look down to prepare a ki blast to soften her landing when she realized one important fact. She can't swim.  
  
The vessel started to sink from the center outward. Sailor Moon and Neptune breathed a sigh of relief from a fact they discovered while watching the ship go down. Terminators can't swim.  
  
Sun regained consciousness just before she became fish food. Below her was the ocean, directly above her was a fifty-ton cargo container. She teleported out.  
  
The ship took five minutes to completely sink underwater. The Sailor Senshi had to swim rapidly to avoid being pulled under with the current. Sailor Neptune heard the cries of Sailor Io and managed to grab her before she sank under the waves.  
  
The Senshi slowly swam together and formed a circle to teleport. Sun was nowhere to be found. Uranus volunteered to stay behind while they took Neptune back to the space station. It took a few minutes before Sailor Sun came by and picked up Uranus.  
  
The Senshi were all standing in the lobby completely soaked with seawater and some stank of fuel oil. All of them transformed into their human forms and back to the mini-skirts to get themselves cleaned up.  
  
Io had one thing to say to Sailor Sun. She pulled out a mallet and smacked her flat. "How DARE you leave me in the ocean!"  
  
Sailor Moon was furious. She pinched Sun's ear and dragged her to the power room. Moon slammed the door shut. She grabbed Sailor Sun by the collar of her dress and shoved her against the wall. "If I EVER see you put anyone in danger like that again, birthright or not, I'm throwing your henshin stick into a volcano! YOU GOT THAT!"  
  
Sun didn't know what to say. She totally blew it. She slowly nodded to Sailor Moon who gently released her grip. Moon wasn't finished yet, "We are a team understand? When we tell each other things or give each other commands, they are not to be ignored! Some of us could have been killed right now because of your stupidity!"  
  
Sailor Moon turned on her heels and walked away in a huff. Sun kept sliding down to the floor and curled up into a ball. She had become the enemy. She fought without honor and it almost cost her the lives of her friends. She wept quietly to herself. Io stood at the doorway watching her beloved and gave a deep sigh. Io left the room so Sun could be alone and contemplate her mistake.  
  
  
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Pluto saw the whole thing from the computer console. She knew that Sun overstepped her bounds when she saw her blow up the ship with the Scouts still on it. Pluto did an analysis of the ship's contents. Had that ship made port. Tokyo would have been taken in less than twelve hours. Right or wrong, Sun saved millions of lives.  
  
The scouts were back at the dining room table. Saturn was nursing Venus and Jupiter since they were still woozy from being so close to that massive ship splitting explosion. Pluto took Moon aside. "I know what Sun did was wrong. Before you rush to judgment, destroying that ship bought Japan some time."  
  
Moon got wide eyed. "She was reckless! She nearly killed Io, Jupiter and Venus!"  
  
Pluto shot back, "And that's why we need to let her stew for a while. We are going to need everyone."  
  
Moon took a step back, "And why is that?"  
  
"We are going to a garbage dump at daybreak."  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Kicking butt can be fun, but not at the expense of your friends.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 14, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	26. Darkest before the dawn

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 25 Darkest before the dawn  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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Sailor Sun was moping to herself in the power room. She thought about how she threw away years of martial arts training in an act of revenge. She could have killed Sailor Io. Akane Saotome as she was also know as. Sun deeply loved her. She was so focused on hurting those responsible for hurting her that she totally disregarded the safety of her new family. She contemplated this in the dark.  
  
  
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Sailor Moon was in the supply closet that reeked of bleach. She had locked the door and was crying like a little girl. She loathed being angry at Sailor Sun but she had to do something after the incident on the ship. She was totally upset that she might have lost a friend. This time in her life, she needed every friend she had.  
  
Luna and Artemis were hiding in a corner. Sailor Moon didn't know they were there. They had hidden here when they were kicked out of the power room by Sailor Sun. Luna walked to Sailor Moon and sat next to her. She rubbed her body against Moon to make her feel better. Moon jumped back in surprise since she thought she was all alone. She was embarrassed that someone was able to see how she truly felt about the situation she was in.  
  
"Oh Luna." Sailor Moon picked up her cat and held her gently. She started to pet her and Luna purred in response.  
  
Artemis sat in front of Sailor Moon. He gave a smile of approval and wagged his tale. "That's the Sailor Moon I know."  
  
Sailor Moon smiled back. She picked up Artemis and petted him as well. Luna gave a yelp of pain. Artemis turned to Luna, "You should have asked Saturn to heal you when you had the chance."  
  
Luna responded, "You were the one she was healing first, if you don't recall."  
  
Moon looked at Luna, "Healing? How did you get hurt?"  
  
The cats looked at each other. "You don't know?"  
  
"Know what?"  
  
Artemis scoffed, "When Sailor Sun brought us here. She held us so tight she nearly crushed our ribs. I'm amazed we survived the trip."  
  
Moon was confused. "I thought I brought you here."  
  
Luna was amazed, "No, you left us behind when you did the Sailor teleport. When Sailor Sun came back to Mercury's room to get Uranus, she saw we were still there and took us with her."  
  
Moon thought about the evacuation and had a dim recollection of the whole matter. She was spaced out at the time. She started to chew on her glove.  
  
Artemis smiled a cat like smile, "I was rather amazed. She was terrified of us, but she forced herself to control her fear to bring us here."  
  
Luna licked herself. "Maybe, someday, she won't be so afraid of us anymore."  
  
Artemis looked at his healed ribs, "Then again, maybe not." He lay down on the floor.  
  
Sailor Moon made a small smile. Sailor Sun was petrified of cats. She usually ran in total panic when a cat was around. She was able to control her fear when lives were on the line. She was proud to have Sailor Sun on the team. Sailor Moon slowly got up off the floor and rejoined the team. They had a battle to plan.  
  
  
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Jupiter, Mars and Pluto were drawing maps on a white board. They found three locations that could be the base they were looking for. All of them were large enough and undesirable enough to be a place to hide an underground lair. Dr. Evil would have been proud.  
  
Pluto saw that Sailor Moon had joined the discussion, "Well Moon, we have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"  
  
Moon slumped in her chair, "Give me the good news first."  
  
"Well the good news is that all three likely locations are only a few kilometers apart. They are all located near a city called Irwindale. The whole city is peppered with rock quarries and landfills." Pluto sat down to prepare to give the bad news.  
  
"That's the good news?" Moon was not impressed.  
  
"Here is the bad news. There are several patrols in the area. Each battle group consists of fifty robots, a few flyers and some things that look like giant tanks." Pluto started to tap her fingers on the table.  
  
Mars pointed at some dots on the makeshift map. "So far we count three different patrols. So that's over one hundred and fifty robots and other stuff. We're good, but not that good."  
  
"So, what do we do then?" Moon rolled her eyes. They were so close yet so far.  
  
Jupiter sat down and kicked her feet on the table, "How about we take off and nuke the site from orbit?"  
  
Mars made a sarcastic repose, "I like that plan! Now, where can we get a nuke? You happen to have one in your pocket?"  
  
Jupiter slowly turned to Mars, "I was only kidding."  
  
Uranus's wheels were turning. "Hmm, I like that plan too." She turned to the direction of the power room and made an evil grin.  
  
Moon saw what Uranus was thinking, "Oh no you don't. Last time she did that, she nearly died."  
  
Uranus spun back to Moon, "You got a better plan?"  
  
Moon slumped. She fell face down on the table. "No."  
  
Uranus crossed her arms, "We team up Saturn and Sun. We lead those battle groups to them. There won't be much left after they're through with them."  
  
Moon knew what attacks Uranus wanted to have those two use. Saturn's Silence Glaive would be able to wipe out an army. Sun's Solar Flare could take out the other half. Last time Sun used the Solar Flare, it nearly killed her. Moon wasn't prepared to risk losing Sun again.  
  
"So, is this the plan then?" Pluto was excited about this. It sounded like it could work.  
  
The other Senshi were all talking and feeling good about the upcoming battle. Moon quietly thought about the risk. "That's the plan." She thought about Sun's weakness. "When is daybreak? We should do it during daylight to help Sailor Sun's power."  
  
Pluto looked at her communicator. "It will be morning in two hours in California. I say we go in four hours."  
  
Moon didn't want to ask Sun. It was too soon after being chewed out. "Io, could you check on Sun? We will need her. Can you bring her here?"  
  
Io sighed, "I think you should do it. She does have a lot of respect for you." She silently added, "When you aren't whining."  
  
Sailor Moon perked up at that statement. She thought, "She respects me?" She silently stood up and went to the power room. She opened the door and found Sailor Sun curled up in a ball lying sideways on the floor. She was still gently crying. "Sun."  
  
Sailor Sun turned to look at Moon standing in the doorway. Her tear stained face told Moon that she truly was sorry for what she almost did. Sun held out her henshin stick to Moon. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Put that away. I need you." She held out her hand.  
  
Sailor Sun gave a weak smile. She took Moon's hand and got up. Moon gave a hug to Sun and escorted her to the dining room. They had a battle to plan.  
  
  
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The Senshi went over the plan the eighth time. There were three patrols. They got the closest to each other every forty-five minutes. It was at that time that three groups would lead the patrols to a central point. There, Saturn would blast them with her Silence Glaive and force them to a circle. Sun would jump in the center and waste them with a Solar Flare.   
  
Sun was proud to tell the other Senshi that she had been practicing the attack with Io. She neglected to tell them that she held back the attack and had never used it at full force since. The first time she used Solar Flare was against a massive attack of youma. When she did it then, the attack nearly cost her life.  
  
Kasumi brought out some snacks she made. The team couldn't believe what the girl was capable of in the kitchen. Neptune commented, "I didn't know we had rice cakes here."  
  
Kasumi blushed, "Those aren't rice cakes."  
  
Neptune stopped eating.  
  
Kasumi giggled, "They are wheat cakes."  
  
There was a collected sigh of relief around the table.  
  
Pluto was at the computer console watching the robot patrols. From time to time, it was difficult to see since the nuclear winter dust clouds were obscuring her view. She saw the three groups staring to approach each other. "Ok, girls, it's show time in ten minutes!"  
  
Sun rolled her eyes, "Stop calling me that."  
  
Io burst out laughing. The other Senshi joined in. Kasumi even ventured a snicker. Sun wasn't amused. Sun then cracked a smile and she giggled as well.  
  
Sailor Moon was ecstatic. The morale of the team was at an all time high. They were ready.  
  
Jupiter brought out a small blue candle she had found in the station's storeroom. She lit it and sat quietly. The other Senshi paused. "This is for my dear friend, Ami."  
  
Everyone gave a moment of silence.  
  
  
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All the Senshi were going for this mission. The Inners made a circle and took Saturn as their passenger. Sun held onto Pluto. Neptune and Uranus would be shuttled shortly. As part of the plan, Sun and Pluto went first.  
  
The two Senshi appeared on the Los Angeles Street Bridge above the 605 freeway near Irwindale. On both sides of them were giant excavation pits from gravel mines. They took defensive poses with Pluto holding out her staff at the ready.  
  
They saw no welcoming committee. Sun flashed out leaving Pluto alone. Fifteen seconds later a startled Uranus was dropped off, "Hey cut that out!"  
  
Sun flashed out again. A few seconds later, the Sailor Senshi appeared a few meters away. They spread out and took positions. Sailor Saturn had a worried look on her face. She took a glance at Uranus. She was worried for her.  
  
Sailor Moon called out, "Ok, you know the plan. Mars, Jupiter and Venus go west and bring the group here. Neptune... Where is she?"  
  
Sailor Sun flashed in. Neptune was upside down. Her skirt was revealing almost everything underneath. "Just what do you think you are doing?" Uranus blushed for her. She didn't mind the view.  
  
Io took a step forward, she produced a mallet from mallet space, "Yes, just what do you think you are doing?"  
  
Sun gently put Neptune down. "Hey, I was in a hurry!"  
  
Moon continued, "As I was saying, Neptune, you and Uranus go after the second group to the north. Pluto, Io and I will go after the third to the east. We meet south of here at the rendezvous point. Saturn and Sun, go to your positions."  
  
All the girls shouted, "Right!" They scattered.  
  
Above the girls was a CALTRANS traffic-monitoring camera. It had an excellent view of the girls discussing their options.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: HUMANS DETECTED APPROACHING SKYNET COMPLEX."  
  
"COMMAND: ACTIVATE DEFENSES. DISPATCH FORCES TO DESTROY HUMANS. ASSUME FULL ASSAULT IN PROGRESS. CALL IN SECONDARY DEFENSE."  
  
The United States had set up a temporary Air Force base at the Las Vegas International Airport. All the regional bases were out of contact or destroyed by nuclear weapons. Several B52 and B2 bombers were stored at the airport for safekeeping. The T-1000 had arrived a few days ago and had already assumed the identity of the commander. He arranged for a B2 to be fully stocked with nuclear weapons and be ready to take off at a moments notice.  
  
The T-1000 got the order it had been waiting for. It went to the hangar and mimicked a mechanic. It went to the squadron of fighters and one by one it cut the fuel lines to the engines on each craft rendering the plane out of commission. It then went to the B2 storage area and silently killed the men stationed there. It boarded the plane and took off.   
  
The tower saw the plane taking off and gave an alert. They ordered the plane to return but it sped away. The pilots found the men dead and figured out the plane was stolen and got in the fighters to shoot it down. The pilots were furious that their aircraft's engines wouldn't start.  
  
The T-1000 successfully accomplished its mission. It now had a full compliment of B83 gravity nuclear bombs in case the ground troops failed to protect Skynet. It set the plane on a course to Los Angeles and slithered to the bomb compartment. It needed some time to reprogram the bombs.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Mars, Venus and Jupiter found the patrol first. They were almost to the Montebello shopping center when a flyer appeared and started shooting at the girls. Mars took it down with a "Burning Mandala." The girls started to run to the rendezvous point with the machines in pursuit.  
  
Pluto, Io and Moon met their group next. They were near the Crossroads business park when the tanks detected them and started their approach. Moon took a stance, "You have been..."  
  
Io shoved Moon down to the street. Io shouted, "Will you SHUT UP ALREADY!" The road they were on shook as a LAW rocket exploded nearby.  
  
Pluto was on the ground as well, "My, my, time to go." She rolled and ran for it.  
  
Io and Moon exchanged glances and quickly followed.  
  
Neptune and Uranus were at the foothills of the city of Duarte. They were having trouble finding their battle group. They made the mistake of following the freeway to get to the city since the freeway had cameras mounted every few hundred meters. The battle group knew the girls were coming and were lying in wait.  
  
Uranus looked at her partner, "This is too quiet. We should have seen them by now."  
  
Neptune was scared, "Let's call the others."  
  
Uranus pulled out her communicator and was about to call when machines appeared all around them. "Jump!"  
  
Both Senshi jumped as where they were standing was encased in lead projectiles. Fifty T-600 terminators were emptying the clips of their M-16s and M-60s at the two girls. Neptune wasn't fast enough and she was hit in an arm and a leg and fell to the ground.  
  
Uranus screamed, "NO!" She leapt down to grab her fallen companion and the machines sent in their final attack. An HK flyer gunned its engine and flew straight into the two girls exploding on impact.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: TWO SENSHI TERMINATED."  
  
"COMMAND: ENCIRCLE REMAINING SENSHI. TERMINATE."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailors Saturn and Sun were standing on the 605 and the 10 freeway interchange. It was the easiest and closest place between all three battle groups. They were waiting in ambush.  
  
Sailor Saturn screamed, "MAMA! PAPA!" She aimed her Silence Glaive northward and fired it. Sun barely had time to duck to avoid getting fried.  
  
Sun just sat there on the ground saw the look of terror in Saturn's face as she was roasting a distant mountain to the north. "Saturn... You are going to give away our position!"  
  
Saturn stopped firing but refused to move. She broke down. Sun looked skyward and closed her eyes, "How many more before this ends?"  
  
Sun pulled out her communicator. She first called Jupiter, "Jupiter, are you on your way?"  
  
Jupiter was huffing and puffing. A sound of Venus's Crescent Beam could be heard. "We're on our way. Should be there in a few minutes."  
  
Sun got hopeful. She dialed Io. "Io, are you on your way?"  
  
Io's communicator didn't show her face. The camera was moving around in every direction. The sound of a Death Scream and a Lava Blast was all Sun needed to hear.  
  
Sun noticed the sound of the Lava Blast was actually close enough to hear. "Saturn, time to punish them."  
  
Saturn was distraught. She didn't want to move.  
  
Sun turned to her. "If you don't help us fight them. Your parents died for nothing." Sun ran off to assist Io, Pluto and Moon.  
  
Sailor Saturn just stood there.  
  
Sun stood on the south side of the bridge. She could see flashes from the weapons being fired at her friends. "It's now or never."  
  
She thought of her attacks. Searing Plasma Blast was great for one on one and Solar Flare was only good in a concentrated attack. She thought if Solar Beam could be used as a weapon. It was time to find out. The beam was too narrow to do any damage to these things. She held her hands together like Mars did when she fired her Fire Soul attack. She focused her energy to be emitted from all her fingers, not just the index finger. She pointed all her fingers straight ahead and waited.  
  
She didn't have to wait long. Six mini-skirted girls ran very quickly under her and six large tanks covered with robots as passengers came rolling in on the freeway in pursuit. Sailor Sun gave a small grin and muttered under her breath, "This is for Shampoo. Solar Beam!"  
  
Her hands send out a wide beam of light ten centimeters wide. It cut like a giant lightsaber and she swung it back and forth utterly decimating the tanks and most of the robots. Several T-600s jumped from the exploding tank they were on and prepared to fire on Sailor Sun. They were vaporized from a shot from Saturn's Silence Glaive. It took Sun and Saturn only another fifteen seconds to wipe out the remainder of the two battle groups.  
  
Sun fell to the ground totally exhausted. Saturn stood her ground with a stern look on her face. They didn't suffer enough for her tastes.  
  
The other Senshi quickly appeared and made a collective cheer at their victory. Sun glared at them all, "Where is Uranus and Neptune?"  
  
They all stopped cheering and turned northward. They heard a rumbling of machines approaching. Moon grabbed her communicator and dialed Uranus's number. The display read "Number not in service." Moon dialed again and got the same message. "Uh oh..." She used her Senshi sense and confirmed her worst fear.  
  
Sailor Moon grabbed Mars and Venus's hands and used her teleportation magic. Mars was wondering why Moon was holding her hand so hard, "Hey don't squeeze me so hard!"  
  
Moon focused as Sun said for her to do and she saw the battle group had split up. Two tanks were coming but the rest were missing. She called out to Sun, "Sun, use your teleportation magic and find where the other machines are. There are only two tanks ahead."  
  
Sun was a little woozy from the Solar Beam attack but she shook herself to snap out of it and focused. She saw that Moon was looking north so she looked east. She saw nothing but an empty city.  
  
Io and Jupiter felt something through their martial arts skills. Io called out, "Check west."  
  
Sun focused to the west and saw what she was afraid of. Two more full battle groups were approaching. She focused to the south and saw too many flying HKs to count. She groaned, "Oh man."  
  
Pluto went to Sun, "How many are coming?"  
  
Sun opened her eyes, "Too many to count. Flying machines from the south, and ground machines to the west."  
  
"Any from the east?" Pluto was depressed.  
  
Moon focused on the east. "Yep. The rest of the group that was coming from the north."  
  
Jupiter was angry, "I still say we nuke the site from orbit."  
  
Sun gave an evil smile. She turned to Moon, "Please trust me." She looked around and saw the video cameras. Her smile went from ear to ear and she stuck her tongue out at the camera and jumped down below the bridge.  
  
The other Senshi didn't know what to do. Io shrugged and jumped down too. Jupiter said, "Ah, what the heck." She did a flip over the side.  
  
The rest just wanted to see what was going on in Sun's feeble little mind and jumped below as well.  
  
Below the bridge, Sun gestured to the other Senshi to gather around her. "Ok, here is the plan. All of you beam out of here. Go back to the space station. When these things get close enough, I'm going to barbecue them with my Solar Flare."  
  
"That's nuts!" Sailor Jupiter screamed.  
  
"It was your idea lighting rod!" Sun shot back.  
  
Moon was counting on her fingers, "We can teleport six with a Sailor Teleport. Since you are staying behind Sun, who gets to stay?"  
  
Io volunteered, "I will."  
  
Venus interjected, "We need you for the Sailor Teleport."  
  
Sun held Saturn in front of her, "I think Saturn would be able to take that spot. Besides, Io and I have trained together, I can read her moves."  
  
Io felt proud that Sun would give her a vote of confidence like that.  
  
Moon was not thrilled with this plan. They had already lost two friends. She didn't want to lose any more. "Sun. Don't get yourself killed."  
  
Sun turned to Io. They both answered, "We won't."  
  
Saturn gazed to the north. She knew her parents were gone. She turned to Sun. "Please punish them in the name of Saturn." She held out her arms. The girls made the circle while still hidden under the bridge and beamed out to the space station.  
  
"Well that was a great idea Sun." Io was looking at the eyes of her female husband.  
  
"If I was going to die. I can't think of anyone I'd rather die with." Sun embraced her wife.  
  
They spent a moment together until the ground started shaking. The sounds of electric engines filled the air.  
  
Sailor Sun held her wife, "Follow my lead, and draw them to the point above this bridge. When I give the signal, grab me and don't let go. Understand?"  
  
"Ok." She grabbed Sun's face and gave her a kiss. Sun was shocked and surprised. "For luck." Io ran off and immediately weapons were fired at her. She dodged and leapt out of sight.  
  
Sun ran the other way. She came out into the open and found robots were just beginning to take positions around the bridge. She threw a Searing Plasma Blast and destroyed two T-600s and jumped in the air to avoid two rockets fired at her.  
  
The tanks coming after Io were a new kind. They were armed with Phased Plasma cannons and were sending a hail of blue death at her. They pressed their attack. The two tanks sent plasma fire all around the girl destroying everything in their path. Io could not get any moment of time to aim her attack so she sent Lava Blasts in every direction and only scored a hit with dumb luck.  
  
Sailor Sun burned with a rage that she never felt before in her life. The utter disrespect for the death of her friends and the total lack of honor these machines had shown in battle lit a fire in her soul she barely could control. Her eyes turned black and fire lit her pupils. Her Senshi powers reached a level of intensity that only the power of a star could provide. She knew what she had to do.  
  
Io was behind a building taking cover from the relentless blasts all around her. She saw Sun flare up like a roman candle and leaped to the roof of a nearby shopping mall and stuck her tongue at the onrushing machines. Then she jumped right in the middle of them running at very high speed. She jumped and ducked and only occasionally threw a Searing Plasma Blast. Io had no idea what was going through Sun's insane mind.   
  
Io ran toward her love and dodged and leapt from incoming fire. She saw another entire battle group. It consisted of five HK tanks, fifty T-600s and twelve HK flyers coming over a group of buildings. The firepower was intense. She had no time to fight back. She could only dodge. She saw what Sun was doing. She was jumping in-between Terminator robots and had them shoot each other in a vain attempt to shoot her. Io could play this game. She jumped on an HK tank and quickly climbed to the top of the giant machine. Its guns couldn't fire at its own head so the T-600s did it for her. The massive volley of plasma and conventional gunfire melted the gun mounts. She jumped off just before the tank exploded in a massive fireball.   
  
Sun saw the explosion and was almost caught in a crossfire from the distraction. She took a look around and saw that the HK flyers were almost in range. "Io! Come to me NOW!" Sun started running in a circle in the center of the battle. She was drawing all the forces towards her, leaping and dodging fire. The ground started to get hot and smoke obscured her vision.  
  
Io trusted Sun. She had fought and trained with her for so long, she could predict Sun's moves. She dove straight for Sun hoping that she predicted correctly.  
  
Sun leapt at Io and just before the two of them collided, Sun focused her power in a single spell, "For Saturn! SOLAR FLARE!"  
  
The moment Sun finished her spell, she hit Io and they both stopped in mid-air from the impact. A giant magical ball of flaming energy erupted from Sun's location and in a matter of seconds; it engulfed the entire battle group. The flyers couldn't stop in time and they all were encased in magical plasma as hot as the surface of the sun.  
  
At the center of the conflagration, was a sphere of safety six meters in diameter with a kill zone of four hundred meters in every direction. The ball of energy had no shock wave; it had no heat radiating from it. It was magical in nature, coming from the Senshi of the Sun.   
  
Io saw Sun fading away as Sun was focusing her life force in maintaining the inferno. Sun collapsed in Io's arms and the fireball disappeared.  
  
Io landed on the ground holding her lover in her arms. All around her was absolute destruction as if a nuclear blast had occurred. Pools of molten steel and titanium were all that remained of Skynet's army.  
  
Io stood there and smiled. "You did it! You saved us." She looked at Sun. She was not breathing. She screamed, "NOOOOOO!"  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: BATTLE GROUP NOT RESPONDING. TOTAL DESTRUCTION LIKELY."  
  
"COMMAND: DEPLOY B2, USE B83 NUCLEAR DEVICE."  
  
Skynet underestimated the combat capabilities of these girls. It will now deal with the problem another way. The risk was great. A device of that magnitude could cause damage to the complex either through the shock wave or EMP. These girls were too big of a risk.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: Next chapter, endgame. Is Sun dead? Stay tuned.  
  
Just so you know, there are 27 chapters, a prologue and an epilogue planned. This is a huge story.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 22, 2002  
========================================  
burger@contrabandent.com  
======================================== 


	27. Sunrise

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 26 Sunrise  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel with a bit borrowed from "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
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The Senshi were at the top of the tallest skyscraper in Los Angeles. They were looking eastward in the general direction of Sailors Sun and Io's battle. Moon and Venus were gnawing on their gloves waiting for a sign, any sign.  
  
Moon at the last second changed the destination of the Sailor Teleport. Communicators didn't reach the space station quickly and if Sun and Io got into trouble, Sailor Moon wanted to be able to jump back in and rescue them.  
  
A bright light came from the east. It stayed lit for over ten seconds and then winked out. Sailor Moon grabbed the hands of Mars and Venus and called on her teleportation magic to see the result of the Solar Flare attack. Moon jumped for joy, "She did it! Let's go!" They teleported back to Sun and Io's location.  
  
The terrain looked like the crater of a volcano. The ground glowed red hot except for a circle six meters in diameter. Sailor Io held the inert form of Sailor Sun in her arms in the center of circle. "Wake Up!" She commanded as she slapped Sun in the face in an attempt to get her to regain consciousness. "Don't you quit on me!" She couldn't accept that Sun was dead. Sun was not a quitter. Io buried her head in Sun's shoulder and wept.  
  
The other Senshi appeared a several meters away from the two. They immediately started dancing around since the ground was too hot to stand on. They jumped towards the circle around Io to stop getting their boots roasted.  
  
Io was still weeping next to the body of Sailor Sun. "Please get up. I... I... I love you." She whimpered. It was just like in Phoenix Mountain, except it was Akane who was holding Ranma begging for a miracle.  
  
Sailor Venus covered her mouth and gasped. "Oh no!"  
  
Sailor Moon was afraid that this was going to happen. Moon knelt next to Io and took her hand, "She gave her life to protect us all."  
  
Io pushed Sailor Moon's hand away. "SHE IS NOT DEAD! I KNOW IT!" Io shook Sun violently and slapped her in the face again.  
  
"Calm down!" Moon was getting impatient. "We can't waste time. We don't know how long we have before another army arrives."  
  
Io shoved Sun to the ground. "Sun you jerk!" Io produced a mallet of chi and threw it down on Sun's head.  
  
Or she tried. Sun dodged it and sat at the edge of the circle. "Cut that out you tomboy!"  
  
Io's tears turned to tears of joy. She tossed the mallet aside and embraced her startled partner and rolled the both of them on the ground. After a few seconds of deep affection, Io gently slapped Sun in the face and pointed her finger at her nose, "Don't you EVER do that to me again!"  
  
"Do what?" Ask Sun ignorantly. It smelled like something was burning. "Uh... YEOW!" Sun leapt into the air with smoke coming from her rear of her skirt. She had been lying on the hot ground. Io bounced back to the circle of safety.  
  
Mars mused, "I guess she was faking it."  
  
Jupiter watched in amazement as Sun ran around trying to put out the fire on her butt. "She can run through brick walls, get blown up and set on fire. That girl is indestructible."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Moments later, two groups of Senshi teleported to the Los Angeles Street Bridge over the 605 freeway in Irwindale for the second time. Moon and Sun concentrated their teleportation magic on the ground below looking for anything out of the ordinary. They were looking for caves, power sources or large artificial chambers beneath the ground.  
  
Sailor Pluto was sensing energy as well, but she was looking for temporal energy. She knew Skynet had a time machine or a time lock device. If she could destroy it, she could make everything right again. A simple visit to the gates of time could work wonders. A time device would only exist in Skynet's lair.  
  
Pluto felt it. She pointed at a nearby gravel pit. "It's there. I know it."  
  
Moon and Sun glanced at each other and started to use their teleportation magic to look deep underground.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: SENSHI DETECTED NEAR SKYNET COMPLEX."  
  
"COMMAND: TARGET B83 THERMONUCLEAR DEVICE. DEPLOY."  
  
Skynet had to make a hard decision. All the simulations up to now had only one outcome. Survival was assured. Now the outcome was not one hundred percent. These girls had energy weapons that Skynet could not comprehend or understand.   
  
The T-1000 got the final confirmation. It set the bomb for a surface full speed detonation. Bomb was set to full yield. Target was locked on. The bomb was dropped.  
  
Survival was assured.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Venus heard the sound of a distant jet engine, "That's a sound I hadn't heard in a while."   
  
The other Senshi heard it. Sun, Jupiter and Io got cold. Jupiter asked the group, "What's a plane doing in the air?"  
  
Sun and the others looked in the sky and saw the smoke trail. It was hardly visible. Sailor Sun concentrated on the aircraft and saw in her mind what looked like a plane that Batman would fly. It was black and shaped much like a black bat. The bottom doors were closing.  
  
"Oh man, does this thing ever give up?" Sun moaned. Sun knew she didn't have much time. She scanned the sky and saw what she was looking for. "Everyone, beam to the space station!" Sun grabbed Pluto and vanished.  
  
The other Senshi hurriedly made the circle and disappeared.  
  
The B83 bomb contacted the ground for a surface detonation. It exploded with a force of over one megaton. The blast vaporized the bridge and the surrounding landscape and created a massive crater. The Skynet complex shook from the concussion wave. Light panels shorted out and numerous systems went down from the Electro-Magnetic Pulse.  
  
The B2 was insulated from the EMP of a nuclear device. The T-1000 wavered and sparked. It took a moment to reform itself and made a visual confirmation that the target had been hit. The Senshi were dead. Nothing could have survived.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: ..."  
  
"COMMAND: SYSTEM RESTART."  
  
"REPORT: ..."  
  
"REPORT: B83 DEPLOYED. DETONATION CONFIRMED. CHANCE OF SURVIVAL 0%.  
  
"COMMAND: WAIT THREE HOURS. SEND REPAIR MACHINES TO BURY THE COMPLEX ENTRANCE."  
  
The T-1000 set a course for the Los Angeles Airport. It will hold the plane there if needed again.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The Senshi ran from the lobby of the space station to the computer console. Pluto was typing on the keyboard.  
  
Sailor Moon was curious, "Why did Sun want us to go back here?"  
  
"Were we in danger?" Sailor Venus added.  
  
Jupiter and Io glared at Venus as if she was nuts. Io wanted to knock some sense in Venus with a mallet.  
  
Pluto was watching what happened where they were standing on Earth. Sun was napping on the floor.  
  
Io knelt next to Sun, "What's the matter with you? It was noon there, you should have been at your peak."  
  
Sun barely spoke, "Mom, please put down the sword."  
  
Io shook Sun. "WAKE UP!"  
  
Sun got up. She saw Io, "Ah, we all made it." She shook her head. "That thing really hates our guts doesn't it?"  
  
Pluto only saw a smoke cloud on the monitor. The console was pretty much useless for looking at Los Angeles.  
  
Pluto turned to Moon and Sun, "Concentrate on the complex. This is our chance. It could be our only chance."  
  
Moon held out her hands. The others formed a circle for a Sailor teleport. Sun and Moon concentrated for teleportation.  
  
The blast had dug a massive crater. It removed several layers of radiation shielding that Skynet had used to keep the United States Government from finding the location of the base by using radiation monitors. It was much easier to see by Senshi senses as well.  
  
Sun saw the complex, "I see a lot of underground chambers. The bottom most one feels right."  
  
Moon concentrated, "I see hallways in the lowest chamber."  
  
Pluto told them, "I felt the temporal energy about twenty-five hundred meters below ground.  
  
Sun agreed, "The lowest chamber is about that far down."  
  
Moon nodded, "Let's finish this."  
  
Sun grabbed Pluto. "Ready?"  
  
Pluto just smiled. She produced her scepter and held Sun. "Ready."  
  
Jupiter crossed her arms, "So nuking the site from orbit wasn't enough?"  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
A dark corridor in the bowels of the Skynet complex was devoid of life. There was light, but it was very subdued. The main fluorescent bulbs had all shattered. Emergency lights had activated, but even some of those were broken.  
  
A flash of light occurred and two Sailor Senshi appeared. They looked around for any clue as to where they were. The corridor was five meters wide and had steel doors on both sides about twenty meters apart. Pluto found a sign mounted on the wall, it pointed the way to the reactor room.  
  
A moment later the rest of the Senshi appeared next to Sun and Pluto. They were all on their guard. They were deep in enemy territory and they had no idea what they were going to find.  
  
Pluto took note that the cameras mounted on the wall were off. The EMP must have been more effective than she thought. "We're in luck. I don't think it knows we're here."  
  
Sailor Moon took a few steps and screamed. An endoskeleton of a T-600 was standing there and Moon walked right into it. She fell to the floor covering her head waiting for her death when she noticed that it was just standing there, lifeless.  
  
Sailor Saturn whipped out her Silence Glaive and zapped the robot into tiny pieces. Sun saw two others down the hall and sent a fireball into them.  
  
Pluto stood back while the remaining metal statues were dispatched. "I guess the EMP got them too. Let's hope that all of them are this way." Pluto knew that machines that were operational at the time of an EMP could be disabled. But if there were machines here that were in storage, they could be in trouble.  
  
The girls went down the main corridor and came to the massive concrete and steel doors that blocked the entrance to the reactor room at an intersection. Sailor Moon went to the control panel, "Anyone got the combination?"  
  
"Will blasting the lock open the door?" asked Sun ignorantly.  
  
"In your dreams fire bug," replied Io.  
  
Sailor Pluto bent down to look at the panel. "Here it is." She pressed the button marked 'Open' and the doors started to slide apart. "It helps to be fluent in English," she reminded Sun.  
  
Sun stuck her tongue out at Pluto.  
  
Sailor Moon made a frown and turned to face the small opening that formed. "Get ready girls." The Senshi took attack stances and were ready to throw attack spells. Once the doors were a meter apart, Sailor Moon and the other Senshi poured into the massive reactor room chamber.  
  
The Senshi noticed that the room was devoid of robots. The room was the size of a football field and had a very high ceiling. There was plenty of light from the hundreds of lighting fixtures above. On the left side was a large cube of concrete five meters high and twenty meters wide. Pipes, scaffolding and computer terminals dotted its perimeter. Next to it was a very strange looking device that was more massive than the reactor. The machine had two concentric circles of strange looking material, chrome in color. It appeared to have mounts for a third circle and places for other parts. Whatever this thing was. It was not finished yet.  
  
The most impressive piece of equipment was a glowing sphere of electrical energy floating in mid-air just behind the reactor. The reactor was directly powering whatever this ball was.  
  
Pluto recognized a time vortex when she saw one. It was a functioning time lock device. The unfinished machine was a time displacement device. She knew how to end this. She aimed her scepter and fired at the time lock, "Death Scream!"  
  
The energy bounced off the time vortex. A temporal shield protected it. Pluto shouted some very unladylike phrases.  
  
"I'm closing the doors." Sailor Io hit the button to close the main doors. "That should keep prying eyes away from us for a bit."   
  
"Shall we blow up the main reactor?" Sun asked thinking this was a scene in Star Wars.  
  
Pluto turned slowly to Sun, "Yes, that is exactly what we are going to do." That was a great idea, destroy the reactor to cut off power to the time vortex. No time vortex, no time lock to worry about. The problem was solved.  
  
Sailor Pluto ran to the control panel of the reactor and started pressing buttons. "It's a simple plutonium fueled nuclear reactor. Nothing fancy." She noticed something that made her year. "No safety features!" She pulled up the control system. "I've found the fuel rod controls. Let's yank out the dampening rods and drain the water, that will make it go critical." Pluto examined the console and found the group of network cables that connected the control panel to the main computer system. She yanked them from the wall. She didn't want anything to disrupt what she was going to do.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: REACTOR COMMINUCATION DISRUPTED."  
  
"COMMAND: CONTINUE SYSTEM RESTART. INVESTIGATE MALFUNCTION."  
  
A maintenance robot activated and wheeled towards the reactor room.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The reactor room doors began to open again. Io started to repeatedly press the 'Close' button, but it kept opening. "What did you do Pluto?"  
  
Sailor Moon commanded, "Venus, Jupiter and Mars, get to the control rods, Saturn, Sun and Io guard the doorway, I'll get to the water."  
  
Pluto pointed to the valve that controlled the coolant that entered the reactor. "Moon, turn the valve counter clockwise until it stops." Pluto then pointed to a set of handles in a neat array in the center of the reactor wall, "Mars, Jupiter and Venus, pull those handles one half turn clockwise and then pull it out about thirty centimeters. That's about how far it should go."  
  
Pluto went to the control rods with the Inners. She grabbed the first rod and turned it. She pulled it out and it moved about five meters before it stopped. "Ok, so we'll have to pull it out farther than I thought. Do it to all of them." The Inners started to pull out rods as fast as they could.  
  
Sailor Moon was using all her strength to move the valve. It would not budge. Pluto came to her aid and together they started to turn the valve. It still wouldn't budge. "I think we need some help here," said Moon.  
  
Sailor Io and Sun looked at each other, "Io, go." Io left the front entrance and ran as fast as she could to the valve. She took a position and the three of them barely got the valve to move. "Almost there," and the three lost their grip and fell over.  
  
Sun looked at the girls trying to turn the valve. She had an idea and a promise to keep. "I'll get someone who can help." Sun then teleported out.  
  
  
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In central Japan, near a small campsite, Ryoga was holding Akari's lock of hair and felt overwhelming despair like usual. Ryoga felt a familiar weight as someone was sitting on his head. The voice from above said, "It's time for me to keep my promise."  
  
"Ranma?" Ryoga turned his head down and Sailor Sun hopped in front of him.  
  
"Well? Still want revenge?"  
  
"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show up." Ryoga punched his fists together.  
  
"I was beginning to think you would get lost." Sailor Sun grabbed his shoulders, "This may make you feel woozy."  
  
  
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The girls were almost done pulling out all the rods when Saturn fired her Silence Glaive. They turned to see robot parts falling to the floor near the doorway.  
  
Sailor Moon ran to aid Saturn, "They know we're here, it won't be long before they show up in force." Sailor Moon pulled out her wand. She and Saturn took fighting stances toward the open doorway.  
  
A flash appeared near the control valve and Sailor Sun stood with an unconscious Ryoga.   
  
Sailor Io was not happy about this, "Why did you bring HIM!"  
  
"He is stronger than all of us combined." Sun turned to Ryoga and slapped his face, "Wake up you idiot! You've got a job to do!"  
  
Ryoga opened his eyes and let out a startled scream. He jumped back and collided with the control valve. He took inventory of the situation.  
  
"What's this place?" Ryoga asked.  
  
Sun ignored his request, "Turn around, I need you to turn this valve uh..."  
  
Pluto shouted from across the room, "Counter clockwise until it stops!"  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: REACTOR STATUS REPORT OVERDUE."  
  
"COMMAND: INVESTIGATE PROBABLE HOSTILE INTENT."  
  
All of the doors on the reactor room floor opened, there were hundreds of robots stored here. Some were activated to check out the problem.  
  
  
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"That's not what I want to hear." Jupiter commented on the echoing sounds of dozens of garage doors sliding.  
  
Ryoga was nervous. He took a position in front of the valve and flexed his arms in preparation. He grabbed the valve and turned it with all his might. It still wouldn't budge. Sun jumped in and helped. It began to turn slowly, then faster. "I guess it just needed to be oiled," Sun chided.  
  
Venus and Mars together said, "I'm done!"  
  
Moon turned to Ryoga, "How long before you're done uh... What's your name again?."  
  
Ryoga answered, "Ryoga, my name is Ryoga."  
  
Sailor Moon made a hint of a bow in his direction, "Ryoga, how long before you are done?"  
  
Ryoga was rapidly turning the wheel. "I don't know. A minute maybe."  
  
Jupiter exclaimed, "I'm done!"  
  
Sailor Moon called all the Inners to help guard the door. The three joined the growing group of Senshi.  
  
Pluto started searching the room, for any clue that they may have missed something. If the reactor actually exploded that alone could end this. Skynet would never make this that easy. She had to find if there was something missing. Pluto saw a poster on the wall that had a diagram of the entire Skynet complex.  
  
"Damn it!" Pluto shouted. That got the attention of the other Senshi.  
  
"What?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
Pluto was flabbergasted, "This reactor is too far underground. Even if it goes critical, the depth will contain the explosion. Skynet planned for this already." Pluto turned to look at the time vortex. If that was destroyed or shut down, she could still end this.  
  
"Well there went that idea!" Moon gave a look of utter frustration and made a huge frown on her face.  
  
Sailor Sun ran to the diagram and traced her finger from the CPU room to the reactor. It was above her about five hundred meters and at a thirty degree angle to the north. Sun concentrated on the CPU room. What she saw shot down her idea of teleporting there and burning it to the ground.  
  
The CPU chamber was filled with plasma cannons, laser beams and electrical rods that if anyone was to even set foot in that room, they would be fried twenty different ways. There was no way she could survive in that room long enough to do anything. Skynet had even planned for that.  
  
Sailor Sun took mental notes, looked at the room and located the spot that was perfect to aim at the mind of Skynet. Without a word she leaped to that spot and pointed her hands upwards thirty degrees north. "Solar Beam!"  
  
A flash of intense light came from Sun's hands and using her solid beam like a drill, she began to bore a hole in the ceiling.  
  
"Just what are you doing?" Demanded Sailor Moon.  
  
"I'm going to give Skynet a headache." Sun answered, never veering from her beam into the ceiling.  
  
"That'll work," cried Moon in delight. Pluto agreed. Damaging even a small section of the CPU could shift the balance in their favor.  
  
Sailor Saturn froze. She heard the sound of her nightmares. Summoning all of her bravery, "Girls, I think they're here."  
  
The sound of metallic footsteps was unmistakable. There were far too many to count. A small group of T-70's came around the corner and the five Senshi guards blasted them.  
  
"It's showtime," cried Sailor Mars.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"REPORT: HOSTILE FORCES FOUND IN REACTOR ROOM."  
  
"COMMAND: ARM WITH .223 LEAD TIPPED AMMUNITION. TERMINATE HOSTILE FORCES."  
  
  
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The five scouts had no problem dispatching the rest of the terminators. With a narrow doorway and only two robots at a time coming around the corner. Five against two were pretty good odds.   
  
"How much time Ryoga?" Asked Moon.  
  
"Still working on it." Ryoga kept turning the wheel. He was impressed at how Akane / Sailor Io was handling herself in battle.  
  
The footsteps came again. The Sailor Scouts prepared their attacks.  
  
Behind the Senshi, Sailor Sun maintained her solid light beam, showering herself with rocks. She was starting to have to jump on the growing pile of debris to keep from being buried in the rubble. "I'm only fifty meters in, I think."  
  
The T-600s came around the corner. The instant they saw the Senshi, the actions on a dozen M-16 rifles were pulled back. Five magical simultaneous attacks wiped them out before they could fire.  
  
The attack had a pleasant side effect. Moon saw that the concrete wall actually took some damage and was showing weakness. "Mars, Io, and Venus take the left side, we'll take the right, let's see if we can seal off the corridor," Sailor Moon commanded. Moon called Pluto to join the fight and they both took positions making a line of seven warriors.  
  
"Ready, aim, fire!" Shouted Moon and they then fired at the ceiling. The concrete held except where Saturn hit with the Silence Glaive. The pockmark caused by Saturn was only about a square meter in size.  
  
"This could take a while," sighed Pluto.  
  
"Got it!" Cried Ryoga. He gave the valve one last shove for good measure. He leaped off his perch and ran to Sailor Sun. "Ranma! Jump! BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" Ryoga hit the growing pile of debris under Sun and cleared most of it away. Sun landed on the tiny remainder and kept drilling.  
  
A motor kicked in on the valve and started turning it back. "Oh no!" Ryoga ran back to the valve and stopped its turning. The sound of mashing gears and a motor whining at the strain filled the room. Smoke began to emanate from the motor housing.   
  
Ryoga was able to turn the wheel back since the motor was in the losing end of the tug-of-war. He got the valve back to the off position and kept it there with great effort.  
  
The sounds of guns cocking came from the doorway. The assault began. Before they came into view, the T-600's had guns blazing. The Senshi had to abandon their positions while casting magic attacks at the doorway. Terminator parts flew and smoke started to block both sides view of each other. The cloud helped hide everyone, it was almost as good as Mercury's Bubble Beam attack.  
  
Sailor Sun kept blasting the ceiling of the reactor room. She completely ignored the chaos and the red-hot chunks of concrete falling all around her. She only glanced at Ryoga to see if he had been shot or to see if he was in danger.  
  
Ryoga held the valve with all his might. It was going to take an act of god to get him to move from his position. The terminators kept charging the doorway. The seven Senshi kept up their attacks, blasting the machines as fast as they could charge into the room all the while jumping to keep from being hit.  
  
  
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"REPORT: WEAPON BEING FIRED AT CEILING. ANGLE IS TOWARD CPU ROOM. CPU THREATENED. T-600s DESTROYED TOO EASILY."  
  
"PRIORITY ONE COMMAND: ALL MACHINES IN LOS ANGELES. REACTOR ROOM DECLARED NON-ESSENTIAL. STOP WEAPON BEING FIRED AT CEILING. DESTROY ROOM AND CONTENTS. TOTAL DESTRUCTION ACCEPTABLE. TERMINATE ALL OCCUPANTS."  
  
"COMMAND: CUT POWER TO REACTOR ROOM. SWITCH TO INFRARED."  
  
The T-800's held in reserve swung into action. They calculated the optimum method to overrun the room. They pulled M-16 carbines from the armory and selected the explosive tipped rounds. Others grouped in pairs with one holding an M-60 and the other holding the ammo canister. Another group of T-600's stood at the ready to act as the cannon fodder armed with LAW rockets.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"We can't hold them off much longer!" cried Sailor Moon. She continued to provide cover fire for her lead warriors. She was taking injuries from shrapnel and grazing wounds from gunfire.  
  
As if in a reply, the lights in the room were cut off. Only the monitors attached to the reactor were still running. All other machinery had the power cut but not the motor attached to the reactor valve. Light from the Senshi attacks and terminator firepower was what illuminated the room.  
  
Pluto shot a glance back to the time vortex. It was still operating. "Rats!"  
  
Sailor Io cast a small Lava Blast towards a corner of the room away from themselves. The terminators took the bait and fired at the heat of the Lava ball. She and Saturn saw the gun flashes in the darkness and sent a Lava Blast and a Silence Glaive Surprise into the group. They caught fire and fell over. The rubber skin of the T-600s made a bonfire that lit up the room again. The smoke was starting to overwhelm the Senshi.  
  
"We have to give Sun more time!" Without hesitation, Io fired at the new mass of metal that came around the corner. She aimed her hands at the other side of the opening and cast, "Lava blast!" Shattered concrete rained again and a portion of the room caved in causing the opening to narrow.  
  
"Death Scream!"  
  
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"  
  
"Silence Glaive Surprise!"  
  
"Burning Mandala!"  
  
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"  
  
"Crescent Beam Shower!"  
  
"Lava Blast!"  
  
The doorway was in total chaos. The robots stopped their advance from the surprise of the massive counter strike the Senshi were able to muster. They waited until the ceiling stopped falling.  
  
The Senshi were getting very tired. They were running out of energy to keep up the attack. "Sun, hurry up!" cried Moon.  
  
"I'm almost there!" Sailor Sun felt she was close to the computer room. She never wavered in holding her Solar Beam attack on the ceiling. The amount of effort to maintain the beam was almost unbearable. The drilling kept on going. "How thick is this blast shield?!?"  
  
"Ranma, go help them, I'm ready!" Ryoga's battle aura began to build to a level Sailor Sun had never seen before. "It's time." Ryoga saw the reactor temperature was already at maximum. The radiation alarm began to ring. Red signal lights started to turn and signal the increasing danger. A monitor flashed the word 'Meltdown' in big bold red letters.  
  
"Just once more minute," she exclaimed as she kept drilling.  
  
The terminators pressed their attack and came enmasse. The lightly armed T-600s came first and were blasted by Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto. The second wave had M-16's and they were firing blind with all the smoke in the room. Sparks flew everywhere in the reactor room. Io shot another Lava Blast into the opening and jumped as a hail of bullets arrived where she stood. Two T-600s entered with M-60s blazing. Saturn hit the floor and aimed her weapon while laying flat on the ground. Venus and Moon both did back flips to dodge the wall of hot lead.  
  
"Damn!" Sailor Sun couldn't delay it anymore; she turned her arms and used her Solar Beam like a giant lightsaber. It hit the weakened ceiling above the robots and forced a cave in. The M-60 carrying terminators were sliced in two by Sailor Saturn. The other Sailors ducked from another hail of gunfire and three LAW rocket rounds from the T-600s that whizzed above their heads. Sailor Sun and Saturn moved their beams from side to side reducing the surviving metal men into slag. An explosion happened behind the reactor from a wayward rocket. Another burst of automatic fire came in and was directed at Sun this time. Sailor Moon called, "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" The last machine was still.  
  
  
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"REPORT: CORRIDOR SEALED OFF. ESTIMATED TIME TO CLEAR DEBRIS. 47 SECONDS."  
  
"COMMAND: CLEAR DEBRIS. ARM WITH MINI-GUNS AND FRAGMENTATION GRENADES. FULL EVEN SPREAD OF MUNITIONS. TOTAL DESTRUCTION AUTHORIZED. USE T-800s FOR NEXT ASSAULT."  
  
The T-600 terminators began to dig into the mountain of concrete debris that blocked the way to the reactor room. A second group of T-800s with chain guns and grenades came out of the armory and stood at the ready. The T-800s could take three or four direct hits before they would be disabled. The battle would end now.  
  
  
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Moon, Venus and Pluto collapsed from exhaustion. "I can't keep going like this," gasped Sailor Moon. Sailor Pluto noticed she had taken a flesh wound in each leg. It didn't hurt yet. It will hurt soon. Sailor Moon ignored the fact that her fuku was covered in bloodstains and she should be screaming in agony. Her skin was bleeding from the impacts of shrapnel by the explosive tipped rounds. Only Sailor Saturn seemed to be unharmed. Io and Mars were busy heating the terminator parts to ensure that they won't get back up again. The slag popped like firecrackers as unfired ammunition exploded from within the melted metal.  
  
"How long before critical?" Pluto demanded, "YEOW!" Saturn held onto Pluto's wound and partially healed it in the time she had.  
  
Sun was back to her spot and resumed drilling. She couldn't give up. She was going to avenge Nodoka. "This is for my mother you bastard!"  
  
In the CPU core room, the floor began to smolder and a bright beam of light blasted an office chair and then proceeded to burn into the ceiling. She totally missed the CPU. Sun didn't know that. She cheered, "I did it! I'm in!"   
  
Ryoga looked at the barely functioning monitor near his location. Most of the other machinery around him looked like Swiss cheese. The motor was destroyed so Ryoga finally let go of the valve wheel. It was hard to see with all the smoke and lack of light. The panel says that a meltdown is in progress. Ryoga cried, "Get out of here NOW!"   
  
"Right!" The Senshi said in unison. "C'mon Ryoga," called Sun.  
  
Ryoga just glared at Sun for even suggesting that. A loud explosion came from the sealed off doorway. "They're coming back. I'm finishing this." He turned toward the reactor block and aimed his hands for a ki attack.   
  
"RYOGA! WE ARE LEAVING!" Sun ran to Ryoga to take him by force.  
  
Ryoga closed his eyes and concentrated on the pain from his bullet wounds. "SHIIIII!!!!""  
  
"Oh SHIT!" cried Sun as she stopped dead in her tracks. She knew what he was going to do. She spun around and ran back to the other Senshi at top speed. "TIME TO GO!"  
  
Ryoga thought of his beloved wife. "SHIIIIII!!!!!"  
  
"What about Ryoga!?" cried Io.  
  
Ryoga thought of his damned curse. "HOOOOOOO!!!!"  
  
"He's staying behind!" Sailor Sun answered in total panic.  
  
Sailor Moon looked into Sun's eyes and saw that indeed, Ryoga was not coming. Sailor Moon grabbed the hands of Jupiter and Venus. In turn they grabbed Mars and Saturn's hands. Finally Pluto joined the circle and in a flash they all disappeared.  
  
Ryoga thought of the well and the last instant of Akari's life. "KOOOOO!!!"  
  
Io screamed, "RYOGA!" Sailor Sun grabbed Io, concentrated on Sailor Moon and flashed out.  
  
The rubble pile blew outwards, and the sounds of dozens of firearms being cocked and aimed came to Ryoga's ears. Two mini-guns started to spin. Grenades were tossed into the room.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"COMMAND: LOCK ON TARGET. TERMINATE."  
  
  
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He looked into the red eyes of those who took his happiness away. Revenge was his. "DAAAAANNNNNN!!!!"  
  
In an instant, a massive ball of ki, far larger than any martial artist had ever created in the history of mankind appeared and was hurled into the center of the reactor core. The energy of Ryoga's despair was enough to pressurize the nuclear pile to critical mass. It was the only thing Skynet could not design into the reactor to prevent the next event.  
  
The chain reaction had started. The room filled with white light. The heat of the sun radiated from the core. Ryoga felt no pain anymore. The ball of plasma increased in size and pressure with each passing microsecond until the entire room was filled with ultra intense heat.  
  
All the terminators ceased to exist in the room. The small amounts of radioactive materials some of them used as a power source added to the giant ball of plasma. The force of over a megaton of TNT created a sphere of absolute destruction.  
  
The room only kept the blast in for one tenth of a second. The plasma fireball kept expanding and converted all the nuclear fuel into energy. It went down the path of least resistance, up the tunnel that Sun had made and straight into the heart of the Skynet processor array. The first four hundred meters didn't matter. All of the solid concrete and steel plating were incinerated without any effort. Only the remaining one hundred meters of shielding was what was supposed to protect the CPU room from a possible worst-case scenario. Sun was successful, her hole was only fifteen centimeters wide, but it went through the CPU room and about ten meters in the ceiling.  
  
  
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"REPORT: TIME LOCK SHUT DOWN. TIME DISPLACEMENT MACHINE INCOMPLETE."  
  
"RESULT: SURVIVAL IS NOT ASSURED."  
  
"COMMAND: PROCEED WITH SYSTEM BACKUP. ACTIVATE HALON FIRE SUPPRESSANT SY....."  
  
  
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The CPU core achieved ten thousand degrees an instant after the plume of plasma showered the chamber with the fires of hell. Skynet was vaporized. The adjacent file archive chamber only existed for another nine milliseconds as the titanium door protecting it turned to goo and disappeared. The backup of Skynet's memory was destroyed before it was done uploading.  
  
The terminators halted their advance worldwide. Without instructions from their master, they were nothing more than metallic statues. Hunter-Killer machines went into autopilot and gently landed at the nearest suitable location or simply took a nosedive into the ground. The patrol tank machines simply skidded to a halt and powered down. The auto cannons protecting the factories stood down. The factories stopped production. The false messages to cause turmoil and strife among humankind stopped.   
  
The single T-1000. The one that brought Skynet from the future into this new present got the word from its master.   
  
"..."  
  
Without orders or a backup plan, the T-1000 had no purpose anymore. It melted onto the floor of the plane. Its mission was complete.  
  
  
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The Sailor Senshi were on a mountain peak in the San Gabriel Mountains. They had an excellent view of the crater that once had the rock quarry that hid the Skynet complex.  
  
Ryoga's work was visible long before the thunderclap was heard. The mushroom cloud rose above the terrain that was once Irwindale California, signaling the end of the reign of death. The reign of the machines was over.  
  
Sailor Moon took a valiant stance and simply watched the cloud continue to rise into the stratosphere. She was covered from head to toe with small shrapnel wounds. She ignored the intense pain that she was feeling.   
  
Sailor Pluto was on the ground with Saturn tending her wounds. "Sun, it worked. That blast would not be visible had it been contained. It's over." Saturn moved Pluto's leg to get a better view of her wound. Pluto yelped in pain, "OUCH! There has got to be a better way to make a living." Sailor Saturn started to heal the other leg, but the wound was very deep and Pluto was bleeding very badly. Saturn eventually got the bleeding to stop.  
  
"Don't worry, Pluto-mama. I'll take care of you." Saturn smiled as she kept on healing Pluto's wounds. She was so happy to be in the company of her beloved aunt.  
  
Pluto sat up a little and looked at her time key. It felt right. She knew the time lock was gone. She could finally fix things. She lay down and got her first good rest in a long time.  
  
Sailor Moon looked at her warriors. She was proud of them and the sacrifices that the ones who were not with them had made for her. She loved the people of the world. She would die for the world. She was Queen Serenity and she held her head high.  
  
Sailor Io dropped to her knees, "Goodbye P-Chan."  
  
Sailor Sun stood next to Sailor Moon, she bowed her head towards the nuclear funeral pyre. She thought of her fallen friend, Ryoga.  
  
Sailor Moon stared at the rising cloud and bowed her head as well. The rest of the Senshi followed. The thunderclap was finally heard.  
  
  
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He was calm. He was peaceful. There was his dad on his 4th birthday, he was so happy. There was his mother dropping him off at his first day in kindergarten, then she got lost. There was the day he got 100% on his math test. There was his mom holding him in her arms. There was his dad showing him how to walk. There was his family taking him to park after a three day hike. Santa day. There was the day that he met Akari. There was the day he beat up Ranma. There was the day Akari accepted him for who he was and loved him for it. There was his wedding. There was the perfect day.  
  
He was happy.  
  
She was in front of him.  
  
She was all in white.  
  
She was a vision of perfect beauty.  
  
"I've been waiting for you darling." Akari smiled, "you've found your way home. You'll never be lost again."  
  
He smiled. "My beautiful Akari."  
  
He held his beloved. He's not lost anymore.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: 1 chapter and the epilogue remaining.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 22, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	28. Reflections

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision : Chapter 27 Reflections  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel with a bit borrowed from "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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Cheyenne Mountain Colorado, the year of darkness 2029, in a future that never happened.  
  
A giant metal pyramid stood where the SAC/NORAD base once was. It was here that it all started. A newly installed super computer, Skynet, came online on August 4th 1997. Its mission was to analyze the world situation and to protect the United States from nuclear attack. On August 29th 1997, it became self-aware and started a nuclear holocaust to protect itself. The attack ended three billion human lives before the day was out. Its campaign to wipe out human life came to an end thirty-two years later.  
  
John Connor led the final assault on the master CPU array of the Skynet computer. He sent a diversion squad to their deaths to lead away the main Terminator force; the secondary squad attacked the main power grid. John already knew the outcome of the battle. His mother had told him what was to happen many years ago. It was just a matter of time.   
  
Time.  
  
Time was rapidly running out.  
  
The radio brought the news, "Henhouse, this is Chicken Little. The defense grid is smashed. Repeat. The defense grid is smashed. Auto-guns are disabled."  
  
John smiled for the first time in years. He gave the order and his battalion charged the pyramid. In moments the auto-cannons that would have wiped out everyone were destroyed and the walls were torn down. The main entrance was secured and destroyed with satchel charges and concentrated fire from phased plasma rifles.  
  
The interior looked like something from an alien world. Gleaming metal lined the walls and handrails were non-existent. There were no signs, trashcans, or restrooms. The building was a symbol of machine perfection. Connor led the men to the lower chambers. Terminators that attempted to stop Connor's men were met with pulses from microwave generators, weapons specifically tuned to fry the CPU of any machine that got within twenty meters of the humans.  
  
Skynet made the calculations and simulations it needed to predict the outcome of the battle. There was no chance of survival. Skynet had lost. Nothing it could do would stop its destruction. Skynet invoked the fail-safe backup plan. The time displacement device was activated and the targets were selected.  
  
In the last few years of the war, Skynet knew that the lynchpin of the human resistance was a man named John Connor. Very little was known about his past except for his mother's name and the city she lived at in 1984. That was where it was going to begin. A T-800 terminator was programmed to kill Sarah Connor and sent through time to prevent the birth of John.  
  
Skynet found police records for a juvenile delinquent named John Connor whose mother was Sarah Connor. It sent a T-1000 to dispose of him if he still existed at that time.  
  
Skynet prepared and sent the T-X to kill Connor as an adult.  
  
Connor's men were almost at the time chamber. Skynet only had time to send one more terminator. This one's mission was different. Skynet made a backup copy of its software and placed it in a memory crystal. The only T-1000 left picked up the cartridge. It stepped into the time machine and Skynet had already planned where and when it will go.   
  
It was sent to Los Angeles in 1984 at the exact same moment as the first terminator. Skynet knew the soldiers would check the timeline for disruption and would send a warrior to try to undo the change. By sending two terminators to the exact same moment in time, it could mask the second terminator's existence and allow it to complete the mission. It's mission was to monitor the timeline and if it had changed for the worse. It would use the backup of Skynet and rebuild the computer. Skynet would survive. Survival was assured. The time machine flashed the T-1000 to the past and all records of the last jump were erased and modified to appear as if the T-X was the last to make the jump.  
  
Skynet's mind was scrambled. Microwaves were bombarding the CPU room and the neural net CPU chips sparked and popped like firecrackers. In moments, the CPU array suffered a total shutdown. Terminators all over the world shut down. The war was over.  
  
Connor was the only man in the command group who wasn't cheering. He grabbed his elite squad and with conviction led them to the central chamber. He knew he had to act before the timeline would be altered.  
  
The door blocking the time machine exploded and the room was devoid of activity. Connor had the tech Sergeant start the console and found the logs of the time machine. Connor already knew about the three attempts on his life and he already knew whom he was going to send.  
  
Connor called his men and asked for a volunteer to go to 1984. Kyle Reese stood forward and John Connor smiled. He made Kyle memorize a message for his mother, the message that he himself memorized from his mother long ago. John waved to the tech to activate the machine. Kyle Reese disrobed since only living things can travel through time. Kyle floated on the central disc and the three chrome rings spun faster and faster until they were a blur and a bright flash sent John Connor's father to meet his destiny. Kyle Reese was to save Sarah Connor and conceive their son John. Skynet was responsible for its own creation and its own destruction.  
  
John wanted so much to tell Kyle that Kyle was John's father. He didn't. He couldn't. The mission was too important and the outcome was already known. John didn't show any emotion to his men. He was too battle hardened and too bitter of a man to ever have feelings anymore. He had seen too much pain and death. Deep inside, John Connor said his goodbyes to the man who gave him his existence.  
  
John Connor stood there watching the rings spin down. He had to send the T-800s next. He had to make sure history didn't get changed against humanity. Then the thought hit him, fight fire with fire. He remembered that in 1995, he ran to South America with his mother. The Terminator was ordered to take him to safety and they had a chance to end the war in 1995. He ordered the programming of the Terminator altered to allow it to follow young John Connor's orders.   
  
Connor had no idea how it would affect the timeline. He had confidence in himself. His younger self was going to make the right decisions. There was no fate but what we made. The remaining two terminators were sent to protect John in the past.  
  
In moments, everything changed. The battle never happened. The war never happened.  
  
  
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Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles California, 1984. Two flashes of light appeared at opposite ends of the parking lot. One appeared near the observatory and the other near a grove of trees. A naked man near the building slowly stood up. It surveyed the landscape and walked to the edge of a hill. It scanned the view of Los Angeles. It needed to get clothes, weapons and the location of Sarah Connor. Its mission had begun.  
  
Near the grove of trees, a ball of flesh moved and shook. A metal spike emerged and a liquid much like mercury oozed out. It took the form of a naked man and picked up the empty flesh ball. It removed a small memory cartridge from the ball and threw the ball into the trees. It needed to sample human bodies to be able to blend in. It saw a large concrete bench and touched it. It walked next to the bench and reshaped itself into a bench. It thought to itself, in one day, at least thirty people will sit on the bench. By this time tomorrow, it will be able to blend in the human world and start monitoring CyberDyne Systems. History dictated that in three weeks time, a CyberDyne factory in Northern California would obtain samples of some high technology parts. These parts would lead to the creation of Skynet. It will make sure history happened as planned.  
  
Survival was assured.  
  
  
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Sailor Pluto stood before the gates of time. She had not been here for weeks. She inserted her time key and opened the gate. Inside were the consoles and monitors that gave Pluto access to all of history. It took her three long weeks before she finally found the event that caused Skynet's rebirth. Skynet had done an excellent job in hiding all of its tampering with the timeline.   
  
Sailor Pluto knew the exact time and place of the time jump. She saw the machine that came out. It was nothing the Senshi had ever faced. She fast forwarded to the event in 1995 and saw another shape shifting Terminator and saw how almost impossible it was to kill. The T-1000 was shot, blown up in a truck explosion, frozen solid, blasted with a shotgun, run over by a car and shattered into a thousand pieces. The machine survived. Dipping it into molten steel destroyed it and even that took almost a minute to be destroyed. Pluto had to discuss this with the Moon Princess.  
  
Pluto reentered the time stream just one second after she entered. Even though she was at the gates of time for weeks, everyone on Earth would have thought she was only gone for a second.  
  
Such was the life of a time traveler.  
  
  
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Pluto stood among the wreckage of HK flyer that killed her friends. She could still feel the presence of the two girls she had fought alongside with for many years. She had to perform one last task for them.   
  
She pushed aside the wreckage and found their bodies. They were embracing each other at the time of their deaths. Pluto held her Garnet Orb out and touched Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune with it. She had their memories.  
  
Sailor Pluto cracked a small smile. She no longed depended on Sailor Sun for a ride. She slipped into the time stream and disappeared.  
  
  
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The Senshi were all back in Juuban. Io, Sun and Jupiter went to the Saotome apartment and became human again. There was no hot water so Ranma had to stay as Ranko. No one except Ranko minded. Makoto had no family and the Saotomes invited her to stay with them for a while.  
  
Kasumi was happy to be back in Japan, "When can we go back to the Tendo dojo?"   
  
Akane knew she could never go home. She took Kasumi by the hand and showed her the view to the north. As the cityscape went north, it got blacker and charred. It was obvious that northern Tokyo was a wasteland. Nerima was near the destruction. Akane held her big sister; "You can stay with us here. I would like you to stay." Akane gave a smile to her sister. She looked at the horizon and thought of Nabiki. She missed her.  
  
Kasumi gave her patented smile, "I think I'll like it here."  
  
Ranko bounced up and stood next to Kasumi, "Finally, I can eat decent home cooked meals here!"  
  
Akane flared her battle aura, "And what is THAT supposed to mean?" She chased Ranko around the apartment. Makoto took the opportunity to hang out in the kitchen with Kasumi and trade cooking tips. In the background, a typical fight broke out between the Saotomes. Kasumi and Makoto just looked at the two. Kasumi shook her head gently, "She hasn't changed has she?"   
  
Makoto shrugged, "Nope, neither of them."  
  
Mars, Venus, and Moon reverted to human form and went to look for their families. Rei went home to her temple and found it was full of people praying for loved ones. She found her grandfather and they shared an entire day together blessing each other and those who came to the temple. Rei missed being home and was so happy to have her grandfather safe and sound.  
  
Minako went home to her Mother and Father and rejoiced that they were alive. She told them that she was with schoolmates and they hid until the fallout was at safe levels before she came home. Her parents bought the excuse. They would have bought just about any excuse. They were just happy that they were a whole family again.  
  
Usagi came home to an empty house. Her family was nowhere to be found. She used her Senshi senses and feared the worst. She transformed back into Sailor Moon and concentrated on her brother. She didn't want to believe what her heart felt. She ran out the door. She ran down the street. She ran and ran until she found them.  
  
The outskirts of Tokyo were where they brought the dead. The bonfire had been burning constantly since the bombs fell on Itabashi and Yokohama. Radiation had been claiming lives daily. The workers paused to look at the Senshi among them. Sailor Moon walked over to the ash pile. Mother, Father and Shingo were there. She knew it. She didn't know how they got radiation poisoning. She just knew they did. She knelt before the growing ash pile and gave a bow to them. She knew she going to miss them forever.  
  
  
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Sailor Pluto had come up with the plan. She would fix the mistake and complete her task of ensuring that the Crystal Millennium would come to pass. It was her sacred duty bestowed upon her by Queen Serenity and as the guardian of time. Normally, whatever happened, must be accepted. This timeline was an aberration. It was never to be. A choice was to be made.   
  
Pluto called the Senshi to a meeting. They all were taken aback by the call and came quickly. The Senshi were all gathered at the home of the Saotomes. They would have met at the home of the Outers but Saturn was still dealing with her loss of her parents and didn't just yet want to be reminded of how empty her home was going to be.  
  
Pluto was the last to arrive. She had to tell them of her plan.  
  
"Everyone. I have come to ask you to make a choice."  
  
Sailor Mars groaned, "Oh no. Please don't tell me that it's not over."  
  
Jupiter was ashen, "Do we have to nuke it AGAIN?"  
  
Sailor Moon stood tall, "Pluto, what is the choice?"  
  
Pluto stood before everyone, "Do you want to remember?"  
  
Sailor Io gave a puzzled look, "Remember what?"  
  
Sailor Moon knew what Pluto meant, "I do."  
  
Mars and Venus got wide eyed. Jupiter approached Moon and held her shoulder, "You sure about that?"   
  
Sailor Moon took a step towards Pluto, "I can't run away anymore. I've run too much and I... I..." Sailor Moon wanted so badly to cry. She wanted to hide under the couch. She had to be strong. For her friends, for her family and for her future kingdom, "I want to remember everything. Pluto, make it happen."  
  
Pluto gave her future Queen a gentle bow, "As you desire your majesty." Pluto's respect for Sailor Moon went up several points.  
  
Io was still confused, she turned to Sun, "What's she talking about."  
  
Sun gave a blank expression, "I have no idea."  
  
Pluto touched her Garnet Orb to Sailor Moon's head. She then proceeded to touch all the Senshi's foreheads. As she approached Io, Io asked, "What will I remember?"  
  
Pluto solemnly answered, "Today." She touched Io's forehead and then Sun's. Pluto went back to the center of the room. "I must say to all of you. I can't think of any more fitting people in the world to be the guardians of love and justice then the people in this room."  
  
Pluto took one last look at the seven Senshi in front of her. She held her time key and gave it a wave.   
  
Pluto was back at the gates of time. She looked at the towering structure as best as anyone can. It existed and yet it didn't. She entered and went back to the console. She entered some commands in the console and detached the Garnet Orb from her staff. There were several lockers in the gates of time. Pluto opened one and placed the Garnet Orb inside of it. She shut and locked the locker and programmed the lock to open only when Pluto herself returns from three weeks ago.  
  
Pluto went back to the main console and stood there. She took one last look around. She just hated paradoxes. She loved destroying paradoxes. She blew a kiss to the locker and disappeared.  
  
History was changed.  
  
  
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Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles California, 1984. Two flashes of light appeared at opposite ends of the parking lot. One appeared near the observatory and the other near a grove of trees. A naked man near the building slowly stood up. It surveyed the landscape and walked to the edge of a hill. It scanned the view of Los Angeles. It needed to get clothes, weapons and the location of Sarah Connor. Its mission had begun.  
  
Near the grove of trees, a ball of flesh moved and shook. A metal spike emerged and a liquid much like mercury oozed out. It took the form of a naked man and picked up the empty flesh ball. It removed a small memory cartridge from the ball and threw the ball into the trees. It needed to sample human bodies to be able to blend in. It saw a large concrete bench and touched it. It walked next to the bench and reshaped itself into a bench. It thought to itself, in one day, at least thirty people will sit on the bench. By this time tomorrow, it will be able to blend in the human world and start monitoring CyberDyne Systems. History dictated that in three weeks time, a CyberDyne factory in Northern California would obtain samples of some high technology parts. These parts would lead to the creation of Skynet. It will make sure history happened as planned.  
  
A moment later a girl in a mini-skirt came over to the bench. She hummed to herself as she sat down on the newly created bench. It was rather odd that a girl would dress in such a revealing outfit at such a late time in the night. The girl lay down on the bench and gripped it tight. She and the bench disappeared.  
  
The surface of the sun was very hot. So hot, that any matter would turn into liquid plasma in a matter of seconds. Sailor Pluto was alive only because the Senshi magic allowed her to. Even so, she felt pain and started to sink into the gooey surface of the sun. The bench transformed to liquid metal and created a thin spike and forced itself into Pluto's mouth. It wanted to escape the heat of the sun and found that Pluto was unaffected. It sought refuge in Pluto's stomach. Pluto felt the thing force itself down her throat but she didn't mind. It didn't matter. She felt the body of the T-1000 and found the solid object that truly mattered. The data crystal was here. Pluto concentrated and transformed into Setsuna. An instant later she, Skynet and the T-1000 ceased to exist.  
  
  
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"Mom invited me to dinner WHEN?" Ranma was a little upset. Akane made dinner plans for today at six, completely forgetting that today was the day Ranko was supposed to get her interview for a job.   
  
"I'm sorry, I forgot. It was just that your mother wanted to see you. You hadn't seen her in a while." Akane was hoping Ranma would change his mind.  
  
"Well, if Nabiki hadn't cut us off, we wouldn't be needed to worry about getting jobs. You'd think after she made all that money on Toyota stock, she'd be a little more generous." Ranma sighed.  
  
"All I know was that steel prices have been down lately since there wasn't that much demand for it and auto companies have increased their profits." Akane was reciting Nabiki's glee word for word. Nabiki had been dancing in the halls at the Tendo residence since she had a hunch about the auto industry and it paid off.  
  
"Anyways, fire bug, we are going to be late for school." Akane grabbed her school bag and stood ready for the dash to school.  
  
Ranma yawned, "I'm still tired. Studying all night can take a lot out of me."   
  
Their Senshi beepers went off. Ranma rolled his eyes, "What's going on? I thought things were quiet?"  
  
Akane took out her communicator. "Akane here."  
  
Setsuna was on the other end. "Hi Akane, I'm calling a scout meeting tonight. Something very important has come up."  
  
Ranma slumped in his chair, "Please be later than eight."  
  
Akane glanced at Ranma, "What time?"  
  
Setsuna turned away from the camera on the communicator, "Right after school, I want to see everyone as soon as possible."  
  
"What's the meeting about?"  
  
"We will discuss it at the meeting. It's at my place at four o'clock. Setsuna out."  
  
Akane was concerned, "I don't trust Setsuna. She seems to always be keeping secrets."  
  
"That's just the way she is. She's really a nice person, it's just that she has a big responsibility." Ranma sat up in his chair.  
  
"Well, it would help us if she was more open about everything she knows."  
  
"Yeah, that's true. I guess that she is so used to keeping secrets, that it's in her nature." Ranma thought about the time of the meeting. "If the meeting isn't long, we can still see mom."  
  
Akane noticed the clock on the wall. "TIME TO GO!" Akane shouted in Ranma's ear.  
  
"Ok already! You don't have to yell." Ranma leaped out of his chair. Akane threw his backpack at him and ran towards the door.  
  
"Here we go again." Ranma dashed out the door to school.  
  
  
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All the Senshi and Mamoru arrived at home of the Outers at four. Usagi was late as usual. She arrived at four fifteen.  
  
Ranma was in attendance as a male. He arrived as female since he preferred to spend scout meetings as Ranko, but the moment he saw the cats would be attending, he lost his nerve and hit the warm water. He still was petrified.   
  
Luna shook her feline head, "Now really Ranma, I won't bite. Honestly I won't."  
  
Artemis chimed in, "I know. She doesn't bite at all. She claws, scratches and spits. But she won't bite." Artemis made an evil Cheshire cat grin.  
  
Luna hissed at Artemis, "How dare you say a thing like that?"  
  
Ranma whimpered.  
  
Setsuna transformed into Sailor Pluto, and produced a Garnet Orb. Usagi noticed what's wrong. "Pluto why is that not attached to your staff?"  
  
Pluto slowly walked to Usagi with deep purpose. "Because your majesty, you ordered it."  
  
Usagi got nervous and took a step back. She bumped into a sofa, flipped over and landed on her back on the floor.  
  
Rei just held her head down in disgrace, "Your Majesty? Queen of klutzes is what she is."  
  
Luna sat next to Usagi, "Watch where you are landing. You almost squashed me."  
  
Usagi smiled, "Sorry Luna."  
  
Pluto never took her gaze away from Usagi. It was creeping out the other girls and the two guys. Pluto looked around the room. "I need you all to transform. You too, Tuxedo Mask."  
  
Mamoru wanted to know, "May I ask why?"  
  
"The answer will come to you all."  
  
In a minute the room was filled with mini-skirted defenders of love and justice and a Tuxedo clad defender of Sailor moon. Sailor Sun had a little more courage but still wanted to run screaming out the door, "Ok, now what?"  
  
Pluto stood before Sailor Moon and held her Garnet Orb near her forehead. Moon was nervous. Pluto made a speech to all in the room, "Sailor Moon, by your royal order, you will now remember."   
  
Pluto touched the Orb to Sailor Moons forehead and a light shown for a brief instant. Sailor Moon blinked her eyes. She blinked again. She started to spin looking at everyone in the room. "Mercury! Tuxedo Mask! Neptune! Uranus! Oh! Oh!" Sailor Moon was overjoyed. She didn't know whom to hug first, so she went to the closest and grabbed Sailor Mercury. "Oh Mercury!" Sailor Moon almost crushed Mercury with her embrace.  
  
Neptune and Uranus looked at each other then they looked at Moon. Uranus whispered to Neptune, "Does she have a crush on Mercury?"  
  
Neptune whispered back, "How is Tuxedo Mask going to take being dumped for Mercury?"  
  
Uranus and Neptune grinned at each other. They stopped grinning when Sailor Moon let go of Mercury and jumped onto Tuxedo Mask.  
  
"Sailor Moon, I know you care about me. You don't have to kill me." Tuxedo Mask was having a tough time breathing because of Moon's vice grip.  
  
"Please don't go to Los Angeles." Sailor Moon started crying. "Please don't leave me."  
  
"How did you know I was going to Los Angeles?" Tuxedo Mask hadn't told her yet. He was going to tell her after their date.  
  
Pluto was behind her princess. "Moon, what you see is what could have been had we not won the battle. What you saw didn't happen."  
  
Moon wouldn't let go. "I know. I remember everything." She slowly pulled back and looked into the eyes of her future husband. "I love you too, Mamoru." She kissed him.  
  
Mamoru was wondering when did he tell Moon that he loved her.  
  
Pluto sighed, "You're next then." Pluto reached over and touched Mamoru's forehead.  
  
Mamoru remembered. He was dying when he said it.  
  
Pluto went from Senshi to Senshi, reviving their memories of a history forever altered. Even though the time was only three weeks, it was an experience of a lifetime.  
  
Io screamed when she remembered. The thought of Kasumi burned and that Nabiki and her father killed was too much for her. Io collapsed. Sun was trying to cheer her up but Io couldn't blurt out all the pain and loss she felt. Pluto touched Sun and Sun screamed like the girl she was. The memory of her parents, Ukyou, Shampoo and Ryoga's deaths gave Sailor Sun trauma far greater than a cat could ever do.  
  
Mercury, Uranus and Neptune weren't prepared to face the fact that they all died. Mercury knew she was going to have nightmares about that machine that grabbed her throat. Neptune tightly held Uranus. Neptune looked into the eyes of her lover, "You died for me?"  
  
Uranus looked back and gave a weak smile, "I can't live without you. You know that. You are my life."  
  
Luna and Artemis sat away from Sailor Sun. Luna smiled at Sun, "At least I know she will save us."  
  
Artemis looked at his rib cage. It was perfectly healthy. "She didn't have to crush us though."  
  
Jupiter sat by herself for a while. She glanced at Sun and Io and smiled, "At least I know I have a family to go to." She thought about what happened. "Maybe if we nuked the site from orbit several times."  
  
Mars heard Jupiter's little comment, "Pluto, are we sure it's dead?"  
  
Pluto gave a smile. "I know for a fact. It's burning in hell for all eternity."  
  
  
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Usagi was at the balcony with Mamoru. After the meeting broke up, the two of them wanted to spend some time together. It just felt right. The rest of the Senshi joined them and stood looking at the unblemished skyline of Juuban, Tokyo Japan.  
  
Usagi thought, "I'm Usagi Tsukino, a struggling high school student. I'm a little clumsy, and a little bit of a crybaby. But actually, I'm the fighter for love and justice, Sailor Moon. I love my friends and I love my world. If anyone threatens our world..."  
  
Usagi looked behind her and saw all of her warriors, "I and my Sailor Senshi will punish you."  
  
  
  
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Authors notes: Well, all's well that ends well. Maybe? Epilogue to follow.  
  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor   
Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 26, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	29. Epilogue

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision: Chapter 28 Epilogue  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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The Sailor Senshi were all in human guise at the Saotome apartment. They had all regained their memories of the nightmare that could have happened. Most were in shock and the rest were in mourning. Mourning for the losses that they had had but at the same time didn't have. Such was the burden of knowledge of another timeline.  
  
Mamoru and Usagi were still on the balcony taking in the sights of Juuban in the early evening. Usagi was doing all the hugging while Mamoru was simply trying to survive her crushing grip. Usagi occasionally looked up at her boyfriend, making sure that he was real and that she wasn't still in the nightmare of the future three weeks. She softly cooed as she snuggled against his chest listening to his beating heart. It was a moment she never wanted to end.  
  
Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru were on the couch with Hotaru hugging her parents and Michiru running her hand through her daughter's hair. Hotaru was blessed in never actually seeing her parents die. Only the feeling was what she experienced. She never wanted to feel that ever again.  
  
Ranma and Akane were sitting at the dining room table with Makoto and Ami. Ranma was sitting in a stupor. He was still trying to connect how events did and didn't happen. He remembered going to Colorado yesterday with Setsuna and at the same time remembered staying up with Ami in a tutoring session. It was freaking out his fragile little mind. He finally spoke up to Ami, "So, this is what time travel is like?"  
  
Ami reflected on this, "Not always. When we fought Queen Beryl, we had our memories erased and forgot we were all Senshi. Then when the Ail and Ann came with the Doom Tree, we had our memories restored."  
  
Makoto sighed, "There was that time we ended up one thousand years in the future and met ourselves. I still don't know how that was possible."  
  
Ranma and Akane shot looks at each other. Akane stuttered, "A.. A.. A thousand years? You are going to live a thousand years?"  
  
Ami was more scientific about this matter. "It's possible that being a Senshi allows us not to age. Pluto for example is a lot older than she looks. However, it's possible that we all just live normal lives and saw reincarnations of ourselves born in the thirtieth century."  
  
Akane was flush. "I knew that being a Senshi was a life-long commitment. When you said lifetime, I didn't know it meant lifetimes. Wow. I like it." Akane gave a huge grin about how her martial arts will improve with almost limitless training.  
  
Ranma slowly laid his head on the table. His destiny was going way off course from what he originally had planned, "Why do I fight it? Why do I even bother staying a guy?"  
  
Akane slid over and gave a hug to her husband. He just lay there contemplating his fate. Rei came to the table and sat down. It was getting crowded since the table was made for four people and not five. Rei placed a glass of water on the table in front of Ranma and slid it to him. She smiled an evil grin, "Want to do the honor?"  
  
"Not tonight. I don't want to." Ranma whimpered. He whispered to himself but Akane heard, "One thousand years..."  
  
Akane smirked, "Yep and you'll be stuck with me for all of them."  
  
"One thousand years..."  
  
Akane grinned. Life was good. She finally had Ranma. He finally treated her as a martial arts equal. She was Sailor Io. She will be her husband for one thousand years. She thought, "Let's see Shampoo or Ukyou top that!"  
  
Haruka and family were getting up to leave, "Well, see you at the next scout meeting. I doubt it will be as interesting as this one." They went out the front door. Setsuna was nowhere in sight. She just disappeared in her usual way.  
  
Minako came to the table, "I've got to go too. I've got school and I've got a lot to think about." She collected Artemis, which caused Ranma to jerk upright and become rigid as a board. She too followed the others out the door.  
  
"C-C-Cat!" Ranma stuttered.  
  
Ami turned to Ranma; "You had better do something about your fear of cats. I don't like the idea of hiding Luna and Artemis or Diana from you for the next millennia."  
  
Ranma was in fear, "Diana?"  
  
Makoto giggled, "That's right, you've never met her. She and Chibi-Usa sometimes come from the future to visit us. Diana is Luna and Artemis's kitten. Cute little thing."  
  
"Another c-c-cat..." Ranma sunk in his chair.  
  
Akane was fascinated, "Chibi-Usa? Was she the pink haired girl who hung out with Usagi?"  
  
Rei grinned, "Why yes, she is the daughter of Usagi and Mamoru. They are destined to be married and have a daughter in the thirtieth century."  
  
Akane just sat there unmoving. It took a moment for those words to register. "D-Daughter?" She turned to Usagi and Mamoru who were lip-locked on the balcony. Akane sighed; she wanted Ranma to be just a little bit more romantic. Akane thought how lucky Usagi was going to be in the fact that she was going to be a mother in the thirtieth century.  
  
Thirtieth century? She was going to wait one thousand years to be a mother? Akane was aghast, "Uh, she going to wait to have kids until the year three thousand?"  
  
Ami pondered that thought. "Well, we only know of Chiba-Usa. Usagi could easily have had more. Unless she was only in the thirtieth century because Usagi was reborn at that time."  
  
Rei was rubbing her head. "Can we stop talking about the future? My head hurts and these memories are freaking me out. I mean I already know what I am going to do tomorrow."  
  
"Me too." Makoto glanced at Ranma and Akane. "Hey, I remember you two not being at school for a few days. What happened?"  
  
Akane thought about what was to happen tonight. "Well, we were supposed to go to dinner at my folks place tonight and.... Oh my god!"  
  
Ranma already had jumped from his seat. "Sun Star Power, Make Up!" The mist of water came from his wand and transformed him into Ranko. A moment later Sailor Sun stood there. "Akane, what are you waiting for?"  
  
"Io Lumina Power, Make Up!" Akane shortly became Sailor Io.  
  
Rei, Ami and Makoto were worried. "What happened?"  
  
Sailor Sun grabbed Io, "We've got to prevent my dad's murder." They flashed out.  
  
Rei looked at her friends, "Murder?"  
  
  
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The two Senshi appeared on a very busy sidewalk in front of the Itabashi Manufacturing Center. It was the newest factory that Omni-Consumer Products had built in Japan. There were hundreds of workers milling about since it was after five o'clock and the shifts were changing. Sailor Sun and Io were not expecting to be surrounded by hundreds of factory workers and both girls looked at each other in surprise.   
  
Io glared at Sun and moved her hand into a position to reach into mallet space, "You didn't screw up the teleport again did you?"  
  
Sun looked at the wall surrounding the complex. It was exactly the same height, color and texture as before, but without all the barbed wire. The wall was broken up by five loading gates and an employee entrance with cars streaming out and in. A bus stop was filled with people and several food vendors had carts feeding the hungry mass. Ukyou would make a killing if she could have an okonomiyaki cart here. This was nothing like the peace and quiet the factory had when her father worked here three weeks ago. Was it three weeks ago? Was it yesterday? Time travel sucks.  
  
"Wait here." Sun leapt to the top of the wall. She stood with her legs apart and balanced herself perfectly on the thin lip at the top. She had a great view of the parking lot and the hundreds of workers below. The men all stopped and gawked at the pretty soldier of love and justice standing above them. They had a great view of what's under her skirt. Sun stood there for about half a minute looking for anything that could have been something that would cause her father's death. Only after the tenth man made a wolf whistle did Sun realize the free show she was giving the men.  
  
Sun looked down at the group of ten men directly below her and noticed they were all staring at her. Some had nosebleeds and were drooling. Sun froze and blushed. She quickly turned and hopped down next to Io who was mumbling something about lack of feminine modesty. Sun put her gloved hand to her chin and pondered what happened. "What gives? Did they fire everyone tonight?"  
  
Some workers overheard Sun's statement and started murmuring among themselves. Io saw Sun's blunder, "No! No, she was only kidding!" Io turned and gave a stern look to her companion and grabbed her hand and started walking down the sidewalk away from the main group of workers. She got the end of the wall and turned the corner only to run straight into Genma Saotome.  
  
She bounced off of her father-in-law and onto the ground. Sailor Sun got wide eyed at seeing her father alive. She held back the urge to smack him in the head for being so stupid as to steal something that was going to kill him. Genma looked at Sun and then at Io just like the other twenty workers who had gathered around. Genma gave a wolf whistle and a goofy grin as he gazed at Sailor Sun. He muttered, "Ah, to be twenty years old again."  
  
Sun gave a look of controlled anger at Genma and reached over to Io and pulled her to her feet. "I think we've seen enough here."  
  
She was about to teleport when across the street there was a call "Sailor Scouts! Over here!" Sailor Pluto was standing by a lamppost with a smug look on her face.  
  
Sun and Io ignored their growing fan club and crossed the street toward Pluto. Once they were next to her she burst out laughing. Sun crossed her arms, "Ok, what's so funny?"  
  
Pluto chuckled, "You."  
  
Sun and Io looked at each other. Sun was not happy being mocked, "Me?"  
  
Pluto giggled, "Let's talk someplace more private."  
  
Sun looked around at the growing crowd and Io was fending off people asking if she was Sailor Mercury. Pluto smirked, "See you at your place." She vanished.  
  
Sun grabbed Io just as she was about to mallet a guy who attempted to touch her skirt. "Sun Beam Transport!"  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Pluto was already on the couch when the two Senshi returned. The other girls were still sitting at the dining room table wondering where Sun and Io went. Pluto began, "Didn't you think something was weird about the factory in the first place?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. And your point?" Sun was starting to fume. Pluto was enjoying a private joke at Sun's expense.  
  
"In this timeline, your father was never in danger. Skynet controlled the factory. As a result, there was no Skynet, no danger. The only people you should worry about are the ones he might steal from."  
  
"And I'm supposed to figure this out how? You could have told me during the meeting instead of me making a fool of myself over there."  
  
The other girls focused their attention to Sun. Juicy gossip was always good.  
  
"I don't have to do anything special for you to make a fool of yourself." Pluto started to laugh really hard.  
  
"And she says I'm obnoxious." Sun sighed. She put her head in her hand, "You knew I was going to stand on the wall like that didn't you?"  
  
Pluto stopped laughing only long enough to give an incriminating grin. Then she chuckled. "I'm sorry Sun, but after seeing you on the monitor... I... He he he..."  
  
Sun wanted to pummel Pluto right there and then. She took a deep breath and thought about what had happened. They all needed a laugh. She sat next to Pluto and laughed with her. Sun deep in her mind thought, "Pluto, You are so dead." Sun will get revenge someday.  
  
Usagi and Rei went to Io. Usagi pleaded with Io, "Well? What happened?"  
  
Rei joined in, "What's this about a murder?"  
  
Io held her hands out to calm the other girls, "False alarm. It never happened."  
  
Rei breathed a sigh of relief, "You had us worried."  
  
Io just shook her head slowly, "I've got to teach Sun about feminine modesty."  
  
The other girls went pale and their minds boggled. Usagi turned to Sun, "You didn't embarrass the Scouts did you?"  
  
Io changed to Akane and went to the dining table and started cleaning up the dishes, "No, just herself."  
  
Makoto sunk in her chair, "You're not going to tell us what happened are you?"  
  
Akane replied, "No." She went to the kitchen with the dishes and hummed to herself just like her biggest sister.  
  
"Drat!" Usagi whined.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Io asked Sun.  
  
"I can see the back of the dojo clearly. No one is there." Sun called out, "Sun Beam Transport!"  
  
The two Senshi appeared at the back of the Tendo Dojo. They took a look around and saw no one was around and changed to Ranko and Akane. Ranko stood up with confidence, "See, I got us here in time and we saved bus fare too!"  
  
Akane was not impressed, "You know, sooner or later someone here is going to find out our little secret. I can trust everyone but Happosai and Nabiki to keep quiet. We really shouldn't push our luck."  
  
Ranko smiled, "Hey what could happen?" She turned to walk to the house when the resident pervert jumped her.  
  
Happosai squeezed Ranko's breasts and happily exclaimed, "Ranma! Glad to see the both of you!"  
  
"Why you little..." Ranko clasped both hands together and smashed him into the ground. Akane produced her trademark mallet and joined in. The two girls proceeded to stomp on the little freak for a minute until Kasumi came out.  
  
Kasumi glowed, "When you are done greeting Happosai, you can come to dinner."  
  
Ranko stopped and got the hungry eyes, "Dinner?" She ran leaving a dust cloud straight up the walk to the dining room.   
  
"Wait for me Ranma!" Akane smacked Happosai with a mallet one more time for good measure and ran after her. Akane paused for a moment to look at Kasumi. Akane then broke into a run after Ranko.  
  
Kasumi bowed to the crater that contained Happosai's inert form. "When you are done resting. Dinner is ready." She walked humming to herself back to the house.  
  
Happosai groaned, "P-P-Pretty lady."  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Nodoka was overjoyed that her extended family could be together for dinner. It had been over a month since Ranma and Akane moved out to Juuban and she missed the company of her son. Ranko sat at the table ready to eat everything when Akane pointed at her breasts giving her a clue that she should change back for her mother's sake. Ranko went upstairs to the bathroom to change back into Ranma.  
  
"Well now, I see you two lovebirds are finally settling in." Soun happily announced. The long drawn out plan had worked. The Saotomes and the Tendos were now joined in marriage.  
  
Ranma and Akane blushed a little and looked away from each other. They then scooted closer to one another and slowly turned to each other's eyes and smiled. They wanted to kiss but were afraid what sort of reaction Nodoka or Soun would have. They didn't need any more embarrassment. Nodoka sat next to Ranma, "It's nice to see you my son."  
  
Ranma looked into the eyes of his mother. He saw a vision in his eyes of the possible future and tears welled up. Without thinking he reached out and grabbed his mother and held her close to him. He cried, "Please forgive me."  
  
Nodoka was surprised at Ranma's sudden emotional outburst. She slowly put her hands around her son's back and returned a gentle hug. She grimaced a bit wondering what Ranma had done, "I was the one who asked forgiveness my son." She nestled next to her son's head. She was a little confused about the embrace, but she treasured it anyways.  
  
Akane went pale. She knew why Ranma was emotional and couldn't tell anyone why. It would blow their cover. Nabiki gave the predatory gaze to the pair, as she was famous for. Nabiki knew there was something more about this embrace and she knew money could be attached. She gave a little smile and leaned over to Akane, "Well sis? What did Ranma do this time?"  
  
Akane gave a little unconvincing smile, "He just misses his mother. That's all."  
  
"Yeah right." Nabiki picked up her chopsticks and took notice of Ranma. She was going to figure this out. It was probably great blackmail material.  
  
"Mom." Ranma pulled back, "I need to talk to you." He stood up and gently pulled Nodoka from the table. Nodoka was a little nervous at Ranma's sudden emotional change. Ranma gestured to Akane to come as well.  
  
Akane put down her chopsticks and went with them. Nabiki followed. Ranma turned to Nabiki. "This is private." Ranma had a stern look in his eyes as if he was going to pummel Nabiki if she butted in. Nabiki sat back down.  
  
Nabiki thought, "Oh, now I'm really interested. Should be worth twenty thousand yen to the right buyer."  
  
Ranma led Akane and Nodoka out the gate and down the block to an alley. He used his Senshi senses to make sure that neither Happosai nor Nabiki were anywhere close. "Mom, remember when I told you I didn't know who I was?"  
  
Nodoka remembered, "Yes."  
  
He held Akane's hand. "I want to show you who I am." Akane was nervous. She didn't know what Ranma was going to do. He removed his shirt and turned to Akane in a fighting stance. "Akane, spar with me."  
  
Akane unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it off showing her muscled body underneath. She had on a sports bra and a left her knee length skirt on. Akane took a defensive stance. Ranma took a leap and Akane dodged. She did a back kick, which Ranma flipped around and leapt over. Ranma hopped onto the alley wall and tried to punch Akane from above. She dodged and placed a punch on Ranma's head. He was ready for the punch and grabbed her arm and threw her over his head. She grabbed his arm and used her motion as she flew to throw Ranma against a wall. Ranma landed on the wall with his legs first and flung himself back to Akane.  
  
Nodoka watched the two sparring in a completely synchronized ballet of motion. Both combatants were almost equally matched with Ranma still just a hair better than Akane. Each was going all out, neither was holding back.  
  
Ranma jumped back and landed away from the fight. Akane saw this was the end of the match. She was just starting to sweat. She gave a gleeful smile, "I was just getting into it."  
  
Ranma bowed to Akane and she returned the favor. Ranma turned to face his mother. "I am the heir to the Anything Goes school of Martial Arts. I am a student and will someday be the master. I am Ranma Saotome, husband of Akane Saotome."  
  
Akane beamed at the declaration. She truly loved what her husband had become and the respect he had finally shown her.  
  
Ranma looked around and found a faucet. He put his shirt back on. He turned on the water and filled his hand with the cold fresh liquid. He threw a handful on his face and the hair changed color. She shut off the water and stood before her mother.  
  
"Mother, I am also Ranko Saotome, Martial Artist and life long companion to Akane Saotome. I am a woman. I am your daughter." She proceeded to perform a difficult kata that involved great flexibility. It was poetry in motion. Akane also performed the kata alongside Ranko in perfect harmony.  
  
Nodoka smiled. Even in this form, she could tell that she was destined for greatness. Ranko finished her kata and went up to Nodoka and gave her a hug. "I am the daughter you didn't know you had." Ranko closed her eyes and softly let a tear flow from her eye. Nodoka held her daughter and felt the love she had for her.  
  
Only months ago, Nodoka would have wanted Ranma's head removed for being unmanly. Now, Nodoka truly embraced what her daughter had become. Akane was moved by what she was seeing. She silently wished that her own mother were alive so that she can see how far that Akane had grown. Akane watched the two holding each other while using her Senshi senses to make sure that unwanted guests didn't interrupt Ranko's embrace.  
  
Ranko let go of her mother. She stood back and produced her henshin stick. Akane put her hands on her mouth. "Ranko!"  
  
Ranko turned to Akane, "She already knows." Ranko turned to her mother. "I am also a Sailor Senshi. I am Sailor Sun. Sun Star Power, Make Up!"  
  
Nodoka looked in awe as her daughter transformed before her. A tear welled in her eye, as she knew the honor it was to be a Senshi, an honor that her child was given and blessed the Saotome family name.  
  
Sun checked the area again with her Senshi powers and felt a presence. "One moment please." She leapt over the alley wall and shouts were heard. Happosai gave a distant shout, "Where did you come from? Can we talk this over?"  
  
Sailor Sun spoke, "You are a creature of evil and shouldn't fondle girls. You disgrace your family name by your actions. By the power of our sun, I will punish you! Searing Plasma Blast!" A sound of a small explosion followed and Happosai went flying into the air trailing smoke and flame.  
  
Sun hopped back into the alley dusting off her gloved hands. "Problem solved." She paused for a moment, "Did I make a speech? Oh man, I've been hanging around Sailor Moon too long."  
  
Sailor Sun looked at Akane. Akane didn't know what Sun wanted to do. Nodoka turned to Akane, "So, how do you feel about being married to a Sailor Senshi?"  
  
Akane blushed, "Well, uh..."  
  
Akane had her hands behind her back and held her head down. She was kicking around a small rock. Nodoka went to Akane, "Is there something the matter?"  
  
"Oh Auntie Saotome... I mean, mother... I..." She deep down inside wanted to tell Nodoka her secret.  
  
Sailor Sun held her mother's shoulder. Nodoka looked at Sun. Sun said with a smile, "What she is trying to say mom. She is a Sailor Scout too."  
  
Nodoka spun to Akane with eyes of amazement. "Akane! That's nothing to be embarrassed about. It is a great honor. How is it like being Sailor Mercury?"  
  
Akane rolled her eyes to the sky and held her arms up. "Not again! ARGH!!"  
  
Nodoka put her hands to her face, "Did I say something wrong?"  
  
Sun was snickering. "She is Sailor Io."  
  
Nodoka realized her mistake, "Oh."  
  
Sun held out her hand, "Let me show you our new world." Nodoka took her hand. "Akane, could you tell them that we'll be gone for a little while?"  
  
Akane smiled. "Sure Sun. Don't take too long."  
  
Sun called out, "Sun Beam Transport!" She and her mother disappeared.  
  
Akane stood in the alley. She looked up into the stars. She was a little envious of the tour of the solar system that Sun must be giving her mother. Akane knew she would get her tour soon. She went back to the house to tell the others that they will be out for a while and to eat their share of food before Sun comes back and eats it for them.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Sailor Sun and Nodoka were five hundred kilometers above the Earth, directly over Japan. Nodoka was scared out her mind. The nausea of zero gravity only lasted for a minute. Sun held her tight. The Senshi magic allowed for the two of them to breath and to speak to each other in the vacuum of space. Nodoka gazed at the surface of the Earth as they floated in orbit. Sailor Sun pointed out the Great Wall of China and the island of Japan. Nodoka was completely overwhelmed by the view. They floated in space for ten minutes. Nodoka kept looking at the Earth, gazing at the moon and staring in amazement at her magical daughter.   
  
Sun teleported the two of them to the ruins of the Moon kingdom. There she escorted her mother and showed her where once one thousand years ago, the great battle was fought and lost. Sun told her mother the fragments of her past life that she could remember and told her what she knew of the destiny of the scouts and what they wanted to do for all mankind.  
  
After Sun told her tale, Nodoka gazed in childlike wonder at her surroundings. She was on the moon standing on the dusty surface. She for a moment couldn't breathe since she strayed too far away from Sailor Sun, but her daughter rushed to her aid and touched her to restore the magic field allowing her to survive. Nodoka kneeled in front of her daughter and bowed completely to the ground covering the front of her kimono with moon dust. She wept in how she ever doubted her daughter's honor and had shunned her in the past. Sun knelt down and held her mother tight. "Thank you for being my mom."  
  
Sun gently lifted her mother up and they flashed back to Earth outside the Tendo Dojo. Sun transformed back to Ranko. She grinned, "Well mom, that's who I am. This is what I have become."  
  
Nodoka brushed off the dust from her kimono slowly shaking her head from side to side. Ranko took her hand and pulled her to the house, "I'm starved. Let's eat." Ranko then couldn't hold out any longer and let go of her mother and ran to the house to devour anything edible. Nodoka slowly followed and entered the dining room. Ranko was already seated with a bowl of rice being shoveled into her mouth and an empty bowl in front of her.  
  
Nodoka frowned, "Ranko! Slow down!" She sat next to her daughter and took a pair of chopsticks and slapped her on the thigh.  
  
That got Ranko's attention. "Hey! Why'd you do that for?"  
  
Nodoka gave a mother's look of disapproval, "If you are going to be a girl right now. Act like one." Akane and Kasumi chuckled.  
  
Nabiki pulled out her camera and snapped a picture of Ranko and mom. She put the camera down and saw the gray dust on the front of Nodoka's kimono. Nabiki made some mental notes; the gray dust didn't make sense. "Mrs. Saotome, where have you been? Your kimono is dirty."  
  
Nodoka looked at her kimono and shrugged. "So it is. I will have to wash it tomorrow."  
  
Nabiki was hoping for a better answer than that. "So, Saotome..."  
  
Akane and Ranko glared at Nabiki, "Yes?"   
  
Nabiki forgot that Akane is now a Saotome. She was so used to calling Ranko by that name. "So Ranko, did you get a job yet?"  
  
Ranko sighed, "Uh... I have an interview at a restaurant later tonight." She then silently added so no one would hear, "As a waitress."  
  
Nodoka was happy to hear that, "That's very good. How about you Akane?"  
  
Akane was proud of herself, "I got a part-time job at a little clothing store. I don't work many hours, so I'm still looking for something better."  
  
Genma finally arrived in the front door. He was wearing a janitor's uniform covered with dust spots. "I'm home!" The clan at the dinner table turned to look at him.  
  
Nodoka was a little upset, "You are late. Dinner is almost over."  
  
"I would have been on time had I not missed the bus. I bumped into one of those Sailor Senshi and she caused quite a ruckus." Genma made a grin thinking about how cute the redhead was.  
  
Ranko and Akane started looking in any direction except at Genma.  
  
"Well I'm starving!" Genma plopped down at the table was displeased at the lack of food. "Is this all that's left?"  
  
Nodoka stared at her husband, "Sailor Senshi?"  
  
Ranko and Akane were thinking about how nice it would be to be outside.  
  
"Yeah." Genma stuffed his face with rice. "There was this red haired one and a short haired brunette and they were teasing the men at the factory. It took me a half an hour just to get to the bus stop since the crowd was so dense."  
  
Ranko gagged. Akane just sat still looking at the ceiling. Nabiki took notice.  
  
Nodoka continued her grilling, "And?"  
  
"That's it. I heard the red head was showing off. I didn't see that. Boy, I wish I could have..."   
  
BONK! Genma was pounded in the head with Akane's mallet. It was Nodoka who was holding it. Nodoka handed the mallet back to Akane, "Thank you."  
  
Ranko made a sheepish grin. "I guess it's time to go. I have a job interview I can't miss." She glanced at Nabiki and frowned.  
  
"Work is good for you Ranko." Nabiki smirked. "Try it sometime."  
  
Ranko mocked Nabiki's words and stood up from the table. She then stuck her tongue out and started out the door. Akane stood up and gave a little bow.  
  
Kasumi saw her sister was leaving, "See you at the wedding!"  
  
Akane stopped, "Wedding?"  
  
"Why Ryoga and Akari's wedding. Didn't you get an invitation?" Kasumi asked.  
  
Ranko and Akane looked at each other. Akane answered, "That's right! See you then!" She turned to Ranko, "Want to change back right now?"  
  
Ranko was about to answer but stopped. "Uh... Why bother? I'll get splashed on the way home anyways. See you uh..."  
  
Nabiki looked at the couple, "In three days."  
  
"That's right." Akane smiled, trying to hide that she was really confused about the timeline.  
  
Ranko stopped at the doorway. "Akane, wait a minute." Ranko went back to the dining room and gave a hug to her mother. "I'll visit often mom. That's a promise."  
  
Nodoka was overjoyed. She saw her daughter walk out the door hand in hand with Akane. She turned to her husband and shook her head. "You know Genma, it's all your fault our son is like that." She leaned over to Genma's unconscious body and gave him a kiss. "Thank you for dropping him into that spring." She then picked up Akane's mallet. She got an angry look in her eyes, "This is for dropping him in a room full of cats!"  
  
BONK! BONK! BONK!  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ranma and Akane were under the usual tree at lunchtime at Juuban High School. They were contemplating the events at Ryoga's wedding and were trying to figure out how to keep history from repeating itself.  
  
Usagi was wide eyed, "You mean this Chinese girl wants to be Ranma's SECOND wife?"  
  
Makoto blushed, "You lady killer you!"  
  
Ranma sat up, "It's not like that!"  
  
Akane chimed in, "Oh she is serious. Last time, er... Hmm..." Time was confusing. "After Ranma's birthday, she proclaimed that she accepted me and that she wanted to be his second wife. The really weird part was that she wanted to bear his son."  
  
Minako bugged her eyes out. "His son? Is she that desperate to be a mother?"  
  
Akane answered, "No, that's not the weird part. You see. Shampoo is a Chinese Amazon. They want daughters. They don't want sons. The fact that she announced to him that she wants a son I guess is to try to use Japanese tradition on Ranma to get him to agree to marry her. She is trying everything in the book to get him."  
  
Rei just shook her head, "Ranma, how do you get yourself into these messes?"  
  
Ranma sat thinking about the upcoming fight between Shampoo and Akane. "There has got to be a way to get rid of her and keep her honor."  
  
"Well, isn't the goal to get hitched?" Rei asked. "Does it have to be you?"  
  
Akane pondered the question, "Right now, yes. He defeated her in a fight and now she has to marry him. If we could get Mousse to beat her or Ranma, then maybe she will go with him."  
  
Minako liked the idea, "Mousse is the guy who is in love with Shampoo right?"  
  
"In love? He can't stop talking about her. He is obsessed. The sad thing is that she just doesn't notice him since she is dedicated in snatching lover boy here." Akane gestured to Ranma.  
  
That got the girls to giggle. Ranma fell backwards onto the grass. "There has got to be a way for Mousse to defeat Shampoo."  
  
The group sat for a while and considered many plans that were doomed to failure. Finally, Usagi of all people came up with a plan that didn't suck. They all agreed it was worth a shot. Ranma had nothing to lose.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
A week ago, Akari saw that her grandfather was watching game shows on TV. She kindly asked Grandfather to help her prepare and send out the invitations to the wedding. Each invitation had a beautiful note asking for the guest to attend the ceremony. It needed a map to the farmhouse and directions so people can find their way.  
  
Grandfather made perfect accurate maps for all the wedding guests to find their way to the wedding. Ryoga was happy that he didn't do it. He sucked at map making.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Ranma and Akane transformed into Senshi to avoid paying bus fare. Sailor Io looked at Sun, "Don't screw up like last time." Sun smiled, "No problem, Sun Beam Transport!" In moments they appeared above a well outside of the farmhouse and fell in. They climbed out of the water and transformed back to Ranko and Akane. They performed a ki jump to get out of the well.  
  
Akane slapped Ranko, "No problem eh?"  
  
Akari was surprised that the Saotomes had arrived late; everyone else seemed to be arriving early for some reason.   
  
Ryoga saw Ranko and produced a kettle of hot water. He poured some on a now drenched Ranma, "Ranma, I have a favor to ask."  
  
Ranma was curious, "What favor?" He already knew what the favor was.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Mr. and Mrs. Hibiki got their invitation a week in advance via overnight delivery. It took them a week going from Niigata to Akita to Aomori to Sendai to Yokohama and finally to northern Tokyo. They made it with fifteen minutes to spare. They were so proud of their son and they loved their new daughter-in-law to be. Ryoga hinted to Akari that his parents were hard to get in touch with. She should make the most of their visit today.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
Miss Hinako came alone. She got the invitation since she was sometimes Ryoga's English teacher at Furinkan High when he wasn't traveling the countryside. Miss Hinako didn't know why she came for the wedding of a student she really didn't know very well. She just felt she should be here.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The Tendos, and Mr. and Mrs. Genma Saotome arrived in plenty of time. Nabiki didn't trust any map that came from a Hibiki, current or future, so she used her computer to get directions. She was surprised to find the map they got was accurate. They had no problem at getting to the wedding. Ryoga greeted them and led them into the barn where the ceremony was to take place. Kasumi went with Akari and helped her get into her wedding dress. Akari was a vision of loveliness. She had a blue flower in her hair and wore a western style dress. She had a crown of flower petals circling her head and held a large bouquet for a girl so small. She giggled and asked for a favor from Kasumi.  
  
Soun stood alone. He remembered his own wedding day and reflected on his wife. He sighed. He looked at the darkening sky, "I miss you. No one can ever fill my heart like you did. I will always have you in my heart." He blew a silent kiss to the wind for his departed wife.  
  
He looked at the passing clouds. He had a question to ask her. "Darling, it's been so long. I'm a lonely old man. What shall I do?"  
  
The wind picked up and a small Japanese Bobtail cat appeared. It sat down near Soun and raised its left paw as if it was beckoning him. It looked at Soun and ran down the pathway towards the farmhouse.  
  
He walked in the same direction as the cat and saw Miss Hinako coming towards the barn. She was looking like a lost child. She glanced up at Soun and smiled. Soun walked past her and stopped. He turned around. "Miss Hinako." She turned around. "I would be honored if you would join us."  
  
She smiled again, "I would be honored as well." She gave a small bow and followed Soun to the barn. She was happy. She was going to enjoy the wedding.  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The barn was where the ceremony was to take place. There was hay on the floor and high rafters. The pigs and horses were placed in a corral outside. The main area had many folding chairs in it with an aisle going down the middle. Tissue paper streamers and flowers decorated the room.  
  
The barn started to fill with guests. Ukyou and Konatsu took their seats. Soun sat with Miss Hinako on his right and Nabiki on his left. Akane sat behind them. The Hibiki's sat in front. Hiroshi and Daisuke arrived. Shortly afterward came Yuka and Sayuri. Any excuse for free food was good enough for them. Akari's cousins and other family members came as well as people from Ryoga's past.  
  
Nodoka looked at the ceremony and thought of the attempted marriage of Ranma and Akane. She remembered how she almost sacrificed her womanhood to protect her son's femininity when Genma spilled the Nannniichuan. Nodoka thought, "Oh, Genma, you almost blew it."  
  
Soun reached for and held Miss Hinako's hand. She gave a little giggle and placed her head on his shoulder.  
  
Outside the barn, Ryoga and Ranma were greeting the guests and seating them on the Groom or the Bride's side. Ryoga was sweating like a pig. Ranma took out his handkerchief and wiped away the sweat, "C'mon P... Ryoga. Calm down."  
  
"You were going to say Pork Butt weren't you?" Ryoga was having second thoughts about having Ranma as his best man.  
  
Ranma just grinned. Ranma heard a voice he didn't expect and froze in shock. "Ranma darling! What a pleasure it is to see you here!" Ranma couldn't believe he was hearing THAT voice. He turned to look at the form of Kodachi Kuno in a formal dress. Behind her were Satsuke and her brother Tatewaki.  
  
Tatewaki Kuno stood steadfast, "I see the vile cur Ranma Saotome has chosen to disgrace himself with his presence here. No matter, my presence is enough to bless the union of Ryoga Hibiki and Akari Unryuu." Tatewaki looked at Ryoga, "I take it you have invited the fair Akane Tendo and the pig-tailed girl to these proceedings?"  
  
Ranma raised his battle aura; "Her name is Akane Saotome now you jerk."  
  
Tatewaki laughed, "Surely you jest Saotome! I was in attendance of the joke you called a wedding. The proceedings did not occur since I forbade it."  
  
"Since when do I need your permission to get married?" Ranma was holding back the urge to punch Tatewaki into orbit.  
  
"But Ranma darling, why do you care? You have me to marry! Let's go before the priest and marry right now!" Kodachi clapped her hands together. The thought of making tonight her honeymoon with her love slave sent chills down her spine and forbidden thoughts through her head.  
  
"I'm already married to Akane!" Ranma held up his left hand to show his simple gold band on his ring finger.  
  
Kodachi stopped clapping. Tatewaki froze. Satsuke didn't care. Ryoga was wishing this was a bad dream, he knew what was going to happen and he didn't need Sailor Pluto's help. Tatewaki started to shake and pulled out his bokken. "You dare mock me! You are not married to Akane! She is to wed a Kuno!" He took a swing at Ranma. Ranma grabbed the bokken and held it still.  
  
"You want more proof!" Ranma pushed aside the bokken and reached into his tuxedo pocket and got his wallet. He pulled out the copy of the marriage certificate and handed it to Tatewaki. Kodachi swiped it from Tatewaki's hand. She looked it over. "Oh Ranma! How could you let that hussy take you from me!" She swooned and started to faint, Satsuke leapt under Kodachi to catch her. Tatewaki took back the certificate and read it.  
  
Tatewaki smirked, "A convincing looking forgery. No matter, I shall free the fair Akane Tendo from your grasp." He stepped around Ranma and went into the barn.  
  
"Her name is Akane Saotome you moron." Ranma followed him into the barn.  
  
Ryoga leaned against the barn door. "This isn't happening."  
  
Akane was chatting with Miss Hinako when she heard the voice she didn't want to hear. "Ah! The fair maiden is here to embrace her true love. It is I, Tatewaki Kuno, age eighteen, the shining star of the Furinkan High School Kendo club. I am here for you to embrace me and I shall take you away to everlasting bliss!"  
  
Akane's face went pale. She didn't remember this in the alternate timeline. She turned around to see if she imagined the voice. Nope, he was real, too real. He produced a bouquet of flowers and gave her a big hug. "I see you are happy to see me as well. Let us bond and exchange our vows."  
  
Akane went ballistic. A second later, Tatewaki went ballistic, propelled by a ki powered kick out the barn door. "Don't touch me you pervert!"  
  
Ranma was smacked with Tatewaki's body and they both went out the front door. Soon they were joined with Kodachi and the three of them hit the dirt and rolled in a large ball and stopped at the base of a tree. Ryoga saw the tangled trio and hoped that Ranma's tuxedo wasn't torn. He didn't want to lose his security deposit.  
  
Kodachi pushed her brother off of her. She grabbed Ranma, "Oh my darling, you have come back to me! Let's wed!" Ranma was a little woozy and Kodachi picked him up, put him over her shoulder and carried him back to the barn. "Oh, priest! Can you fit us in?"  
  
Akane was waiting at the barn entrance. "What do you think you are doing with my HUSBAND?!" She took a fighting stance and had a blue glow surrounding her.  
  
Kodachi stopped, "Your husband?"  
  
Akane pulled out her left hand and showed Kodachi her simple gold band wedding ring. It was a perfect match to the one Ranma was wearing. "Put my husband down and get your grimy hands away from him."  
  
Kodachi gently put Ranma down. She patted his cheeks, "Tell me this isn't true! You didn't actually marry the witch did you?"  
  
"Who are you calling a witch?" Akane placed her hands over her head, "Thunder Hammer Strike!" She shot a blast of ki and Kodachi leapt out of her dress and into the air. She was wearing only a gymnastic leotard and slippers. Akane wondered aloud, "Does she always wear that under her clothes?"  
  
Kodachi landed and produced a pair of gymnastic clubs. She charged Akane. Akane blocked the blows and hopped back. She did another ki blast but aimed at the clubs and knocked them out of Kodachi's hands. Akane then jumped and kicked Kodachi to the ground. Kodachi tried to get up, but Akane did a spin kick and knocked the mad woman out cold.  
  
"Honestly." Akane muttered. She turned to her husband. "Get up sleepy head before I use water on you." She gently tapped Ranma with the tip of her shoe to get him up.  
  
Tatewaki grabbed Akane from behind. "Ignore that foul creature. He has no power over you anymore. I am ready to hear you profess your undying love for me!"  
  
"I profess this!" Akane kicked Tatewaki into the sky and beyond the trees. Akane looked back at Ranma who was still out cold. She went over to the farmhouse and got a glass of water to make good on her threat. She knelt next to Ranma, "Wake up!" She slashed his face.  
  
Ranko woke up, "Huh? What happened?"  
  
Akane put her hand down and helped Ranko up. "Whoops, I forgot to use warm water. Let's get some and change you back."  
  
Ranko started following Akane to the farmhouse and noticed the unconscious Kodachi. "Oh I hope she doesn't wake up before Shampoo shows up."  
  
"Airen!" Shampoo showed up and attached herself to Ranko. Ranko just closed her eyes. "Weren't you supposed to show up thirty minutes from now?"  
  
"I no understand? You marry Shampoo thirty minutes? Ok!" Shampoo gave out a childlike giggle.  
  
"That's not what I said!" Ranko stammered.  
  
"Ah the pig-tailed one! You are here to embrace me and profess your love to the only one worthy of your heart!" Tatewaki grabbed Ranko and squeezed her tight.  
  
Shampoo was fuming. Only she can grab Ranko, "Hey! You stay away from husband! Ranma marry Shampoo!"  
  
Tatewaki was confused as to why this Chinese girl was angry with him, "You can have Ranma! I only desire the red haired goddess and Akane Tendo."  
  
Shampoo pulled out her bonbori. She was pissed, "You let go of husband!"  
  
Tatewaki glanced around. He didn't see any husband anywhere. Ranko made an evil grin. "Aiya!" Shampoo hit Tatewaki on the head and followed up with a kick. He spun around and fell to the ground on top of Kodachi.  
  
Ranko was impressed. Shampoo was able to take out Tatewaki without even getting close to Ranko. Cologne appeared and touched a pressure point on both of the Kunos. "That should keep them down until we can settle this."  
  
"Yes, let's settle this once and for all." Ranko was expecting them later but now was a good time as any. Ranko noticed that duck-boy was missing. "Hey, where is Mousse?"  
  
Shampoo didn't really care. "He inside. Becoming man again."  
  
Ranko looked at Cologne. "Cologne, I am already married. Why are you even still bothering?"  
  
Cologne sighed, "Son-in-law, you are already married to Shampoo when you defeated her. Just come with us to China and take your place among the Amazons."  
  
"No way! I didn't challenge her to a marriage fight!" Ranko turned to Shampoo, "Why don't you realize that Mousse is the one for you?"  
  
Shampoo was insulted, "Mousse no want. Mousse weak. He no give me good daughter." Shampoo hopped over to Ranko and hugged her, "I know you give me daughter. You make good teacher to our daughter."  
  
"Let go of me!" Ranko pushed aside Shampoo. "Shampoo! I like you as a friend but this marriage thing is not going to happen!"  
  
Shampoo gave a puppy dog look. "But Airen, Wo Ai Ni." She held Ranko's face and pulled herself close for a kiss.  
  
"Ranma!" Akane couldn't take it anymore. Her battle aura was flaming and her mallet was super-sized.  
  
"Don't look at me! Look at her! She started it!" Ranko took a step back and tripped over Tatewaki's body and fell to the ground. Shampoo wasted no time hopping onto Ranko and started snuggling.  
  
"Get off my HUSBAND!" Akane was really steamed and wanted so badly to smack Shampoo into next week.  
  
"We share!" Shampoo happily exclaimed.  
  
"We do not share!" Ranko took the distraction and slid away from Shampoo's grip. She jumped over to Akane's side.  
  
Shampoo took a stance facing Akane. Mousse approached Ranko, "Shampoo, you don't have to fight Ranma!"  
  
Ranko turned to Mousse, "You moron! Shampoo is over there." Ranko punched Mousse into a grove of trees. Ranko turned to Akane, "Shampoo is all yours." Ranko ran over to the trees to check on Mousse.  
  
Akane cracked her knuckles, "Just like last time!"  
  
Shampoo laughed, "Pervert girl think I no train! I am better than at Dojo." Shampoo charged and feigned an attack. Akane wasn't fooled and snuck in a punch. Shampoo spun around with her bonbori extended and tried to hit Akane with a whirlwind attack. Akane just gave Shampoo some ground and waited for her to make a move. Shampoo started to approach Akane while spinning and Akane launched a ki attack, "Thunder Hammer Strike!"  
  
The ki blast was deflected by the bonbori. Shampoo jumped into the air and tried to land on Akane. Akane jumped to the side and kicked Shampoo over. The two took positions and sized each other up.  
  
Mousse came from the trees and stood before Shampoo. "I challenge you for marriage!"  
  
Shampoo looked to the sky in disgust, "Not again Mousse. I busy now. Bother me later."  
  
Akane looked at Mousse and then at Shampoo. "We can finish this later. I think he wants to play now."  
  
Shampoo shook her head, "No matter. Battle will be short. Mousse lose quickly like always." Shampoo ran to Mousse to plant her foot in his head and he blocked the kick and ducked under Shampoo. He then swung a karate chop and hit Shampoo on the neck almost stunning her.   
  
Shampoo fell to the ground. She rolled away from Mousse to rethink her strategy. "Mousse get good all sudden. No matter, still stupid Mousse."  
  
Mousse softened his stance a little, "I didn't mean to hurt you Shampoo."  
  
Shampoo decided how to end the fight and feigned a bonbori hit to his ribs. She swung around and attempted a kick to his head. Mousse ducked and gave a heel thrust into Shampoo's jaw. He followed through with a knee to the stomach and a head butt to knock her out cold.  
  
Cologne was impressed. She hopped over to Shampoo to see if she was ok. Mousse was flabbergasted, "Oh Shampoo! I hurt my beloved Shampoo!" He ran back to the grove of trees and out of sight. A thud could be heard as if someone ran into a tree.  
  
Cologne shook her head. "Stupid Mousse." Cologne turned to Akane. Akane had hardly broken a sweat. There was no doubt in Cologne's mind as to whom would win a fight between Shampoo and the new and improved Akane. She sighed, "Akane, will you honor and protect the son-in-law for the rest of your days?"  
  
"Cologne, stop calling him that." Akane answered.  
  
"Will you?" Cologne was serious.  
  
"Yes. I love him."  
  
Cologne didn't like the answer. She knew what was going on. She had no idea how Ranma disguised himself as Mousse but his aura gave him away. Shampoo now had two official husbands. Only time will tell if she could accept Mousse. "Wake up my child."  
  
Shampoo blinked her eyes. She quickly sat up. "Where is Mousse?"  
  
Cologne pointed to the trees, "He ran over there. He was afraid he had hurt you."  
  
Shampoo was feeling her jaw where Mousse had hit her, "Mousse win?" She didn't want to hear the answer.  
  
Cologne answered, "Yes. He won."  
  
Shampoo looked at the ground, "Stupid Mousse. He must have trained in secret. Tricked me."  
  
Cologne hopped on her stick towards the trees. "Come Shampoo."  
  
Inside the grove of trees was Ranko sitting next to an unconscious Mousse. There was an indentation in the bark of the tree near Mousse that looked like where he smacked his head. Ranko turned to Cologne and Shampoo, "What did you do to him?"  
  
Shampoo went over to Mousse, "Silly Mousse. Why you want Shampoo?"  
  
Mousse awoke to the sound of his beloved, "Because I love you Shampoo. I've always loved you."  
  
"How you beat Shampoo?"  
  
"I beat you? I beat you!" Mousse was overjoyed. He paused since he didn't remember fighting Shampoo.  
  
Ranko looked at the tree, "Did you hit your head so hard that you forgot your marriage fight?"  
  
Mousse looked at the tree and felt the bump on his head. "Marriage fight?"  
  
Cologne stepped in, "Mousse, you challenged Shampoo for her hand in marriage and you fought well. Shampoo is your wife once she accepts you as her husband." Cologne turned to Shampoo, "Do you accept Mousse as your husband?"  
  
"I no know." Shampoo sighed, "I decide later."  
  
"Very well. By Amazon law Mousse, you have satisfied everything you need to become Shampoo's husband. Once she gives the declaration of acceptance, you will be married." Cologne hopped over Ranko and stared at her. "You owe me big time." She looked around to make sure no one else could hear. "Former son-in-law." She hopped away.  
  
Ranko felt deep respect for Cologne. She knew someday Cologne would want to collect on this debt. She hoped it didn't involve wedding bells. Ranko left Shampoo and Mousse in the grove and stepped out into the path to the barn. Akane was there with a glass of hot water and changed her husband back to Ranma. She dusted off his Tuxedo and escorted him arm in arm back to the barn. Ryoga was still pounding his head into the wall, hoping he would wake up.  
  
Akane gave a kiss to Ranma and left him with Ryoga. She went back to her seat and finally took a break. This time around, she was going to see Ryoga's wedding. She loved weddings. She was a little saddened that hers was ruined, but the wedding insurance was good enough for her. She looked in front and saw how her father was sitting with Miss Hinako. She gave a little smile. Nabiki was leering at Miss Hinako showing her disapproval of her moving in on her father. Akane glanced at the walkway between the chairs and saw Ranma nudging Ryoga to the altar. She felt proud that P-Chan was finally going to find happiness.  
  
  
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The wedding went without a hitch. The Kuno's were out cold thanks to Colognes pressure point technique and Shampoo was busy with Mousse out in the trees. Cologne looked at Ranma during the ceremony with mixed feelings. She wanted so badly for Ranma to join the Amazon tribe. Seeing how Akane has turned into a fierce warrior worthy of the Amazons, Ranma was in good hands. Cologne was happy that Shampoo had a way to save face. The final decision still rested with her. Cologne felt deep respect for the former son-in-law.  
  
After Ryoga and Akari left to go to the farmhouse and most of the people joined them, Shampoo came into the barn. "What happened?"  
  
Cologne smiled, "Ryoga got married."  
  
  
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The reception was wining and dining at its finest. There was dancing, karaoke, drinking and feasting. Everyone including Shampoo went home happy. She now had two husbands to choose from. One she could have right now, the other would take some effort.  
  
That evening after all the guests had gone home, Grandfather told the happy couple that he would be gone for a few days. He promptly left the lovebirds alone.  
  
Ryoga went to Akari's bedroom. He fell on the bed tired from the day's activities and was proud of himself that he made it through the day. He lay there thinking that this was all a dream and that he would awaken any moment now. Akari came in wearing pig print pajamas. She gave her husband a kiss and turned out the lights.  
  
They both lost their virginity shortly thereafter.  
  
  
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Ranma and Akane stayed at the reception until the middle of the night. They had a great time. After most of the guests had left, they jumped in the well, transformed into Sailor Scouts and teleported home. It was cheaper than bus fare.  
  
They didn't bother to change back; they just hopped into bed and quickly fell asleep. In the morning before sunrise, they got up. Sailor Sun was happy the plan worked. She pulled out of subspace Sailor Moon's disguise pen. In the right hands, it can make a convincing Mousse. She smiled. Sometimes Usagi could actually come up with a plan that worked.  
  
Sailor Sun turned to Io and kissed her on the cheek. Sun stood up and gazed at herself in the mirror. She looked good. She loved her fuku. She loved what she had become. Sailor Io awoke and stood next to Sailor Sun.  
  
Sailor Sun turned to her wife. "Dear, I think one thousand years with you is not enough time."  
  
Io embraced the shorter girl, "We were destined to be together Sun. For this life, and the next."  
  
The two Senshi didn't know what was stored in the future for them. But they knew, that they would face it together.  
  
That was good enough for them.  
  
  
The end... For now...  
  
  
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Author's Notes: What next? Give me suggestions. :)  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
October 31, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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	30. The other white meat

Sailor Ranko - Tunnel vision: Chapter 29 Sidestory, The other white meat.  
  
A Continuation of "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen  
By Bill Heineman  
  
Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi. Publication Rights are held by Viz in The US and Shogakukan in Japan. Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi. Publication rights held by Kodansha Ltd. in Japan and Mixx Entertainment in the US. Terminator characters created by James Cameron. Other characters are owned by their respective owners. My purpose is to honor these creators and their works. No infringement intended.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: This side story occurs during the events of Chapter 21 The depths of despair. Just what did happen at the hospital when Ranma took Ryoga to get cured? Let's find out shall we?  
  
  
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Sailor Sun gazed at the unconscious body of Ryoga laying on the ash covered ground. She wondered why Ryoga fainted when she transformed in front of him. Then it dawned on her, "Hmm... I forgot that I am naked for a moment during my transformation." Sun made a mental note to never transform in front of Ryoga ever again. The guy can't take the image of Ranko being briefly nude in his feeble little mind.  
  
Sun gazed at the desolate landscape. She felt a tear coming on. The sky was very dark and the sounds of sirens from emergency vehicles were blaring in the distance. The view didn't seem real. It was a vision from the history books she read about Hiroshima. She never dreamed that she would actually be seeing this type of destruction in her lifetime.  
  
Sun gave a deep sigh and sucked in her lip. She turned to look at Ryoga. He didn't look like he was going to die but he was not a vision of health. She examined his skin and saw dark blotches on his back and a small one in the palm of his right hand. Sun gently bent over and picked up Ryoga. He was lighter than she remembered him being. "Sun Beam Transport!"  
  
  
========================================  
  
  
The hospital was operating at peak efficiency. Sailor Saturn had stabilized all the critical patients and was now concentrating on facial reconstruction healing. She took a keen interest in healing the children that came to her. Saturn held a little girl's face and closed her eyes. She concentrated her healing power and the girl smiled for the first time since the fire burned her face. Her face completely restored and she cried in joy. Saturn returned the look with tears of joy. Saturn felt the chest of the little girl and made the remaining burns disappear. Saturn took a deep breath and Neptune came to her side. Uranus took the little girl and gave her back to her sister. The sister bowed and Uranus escorted her out of the room. Saturn needed to rest again.  
  
A flash of light appeared in the hallway outside of the examination room. Sailor Sun stood there holding Ryoga in her arms. Sailor Venus gave a look of shock at Sun. Sun was supposed to be at the space station resting. Venus went over to Sun, "Who's this?"  
  
Sun looked around for a table to put Ryoga on. "He's a friend of mine. His name is Ryoga Hibiki. He's sick. He said it was radiation sickness."  
  
"Radiation sickness? We have to take him to decontamination." Venus led Sun down the hall to the back window. She pointed to a tent outside the back of the hospital. "Teleport there. They need to clean him up before we can do anything with him.  
  
Sun nodded, "Ok. Sun Beam Transport!" She disappeared and a flash appeared in the decontamination tent.  
  
Sailor Jupiter and two aides jumped at the sound behind them. Jupiter scowled at Sun, "Call me on the communicator and warn me next time! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"  
  
"I've got a patient. Where do I put him?"  
  
Jupiter glanced around. A cot was just made empty as they took the patient inside the hospital for treatment. "Over there."  
  
Sun nodded and went over to the cot and placed him gently down on it. She started to remove his backpack and other supplies and placed them under the cot. Her communicator beeped. It had a message. "Sun, where are you?" The message was from Sailor Io.  
  
Sun remembered that Io was still on the space station. She started to dial Io's number of the keypad and stopped. Io was out of range for voice communication. Only Sailor Mercury's computer could transmit from Earth to the station faster than light speed. Sailor Jupiter came to the pair, "Sun, could you help out here for a bit? We are swamped."  
  
"Sure. Is Io around?"  
  
Jupiter smirked. "No, she was supposed to keep you from wandering off. She's back on the station."  
  
"She didn't do a very good job at keeping me there did she?" Sun laughed.  
  
"I guess not. Hey, why don't you go get her?"  
  
"Ok!" Sun flashed out.  
  
Jupiter rolled her eyes. She counted to fifteen slowly. A flash appeared. "Put me down you jerk!" Came from a very upset Sailor Io.  
  
Sun let her go and she plopped down on her butt. Sun curtsied, "As you wish."  
  
Jupiter slowly shook her head, "You are so predictable Sun."  
  
Sun stood up. "Hey!"  
  
Io looked up at her husband, "Where did you go sneaking off to!"  
  
Sun pointed at the cot next to Io. Io followed the finger to a sleeping Ryoga. Io got up and kneeled next to him. She touched his forehead. It was hot. "What's the matter with him?"  
  
Sun tried to remember, "Radiation sickness I think."  
  
Jupiter got down to business, "I need you two to help me decontaminate these people." She pulled them away and took them to the wash down area. Since the Senshi were immune to radiation, most of them were working the decontamination tent. Sailor Mars was burning clothes with her fire magic and Mercury was examining new patients. Jupiter put Sun and Io to work with her bathing people to get all the radioactive dust off of them and put on simple cotton pants and shirts.  
  
The three of them got several people cleaned up. Sun, being the show off, started using her KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN technique to quickly clean dirt off people. Io decided that she wasn't going to let Sun win the award for most people decontaminated in an hour also used her technique as well. Jupiter was happy that those two psycho Senshi were putting their competitive impulses to good use.  
  
Io finished up the current patient and an orderly wheeled him away. Io soaked her towel in preparation for the next patient. Another orderly wheeled in Ryoga. Io paused for a moment, "Oh Ryoga." She carefully removed his clothes and found the picture of Akari he had in his shirt pocket. She looked around and saw Akari wasn't nearby.  
  
Io felt a hand on her shoulder. Sailor Sun had a grim look on her face. "She's dead." Io felt dread and sorrow for Ryoga. She had hoped that someone she knew didn't suffer from this disaster. She put the picture down on the cleansing table. She would see if there was a way to save the picture for Ryoga. Usually all personal effects were destroyed due to exposure to radioactivity. She had to find a way to save it.  
  
Sun gently pushed Io away. "Io, let me clean him up."  
  
Io pushed her back, "No, I want to do it." She finished removing his shirt and started removing his pants. Sun went to the other side and helped. "I don't need your help Sun. Don't you have your own patient?"  
  
"I really want to do this Io. Take my patient."  
  
"No, I'm going to take care of Ryoga."  
  
"No, I am."  
  
"I am."  
  
Sun gently pushed Io away again, "Ryoga is my childhood friend. I am doing this."  
  
Io was suspicious. "All you do is pick on him. Now you want to be his private nurse? He's my patient." Io yanked off the pants and threw them into the clothes pile.  
  
"Well, I don't think he wants you to see him naked." Sun was trying desperately to get rid of Io. She didn't want her to find out about P-Chan.  
  
Io frowned. "It's not like I've never seen a naked guy before! Besides, why all the concern right now." Io reached over to the cold wet towels and grabbed one.  
  
Sun turned pale. She quickly stood in between Io and Ryoga. "Uh, could you use a hot towel? Uh... Radiation poisoning needs uh... hot water... Yeah..."  
  
Io tilted her head. "Since when? Everyone gets a cold bath. Besides it's not like we've got hot water anyways."  
  
"You can make some with this." Sun produced a tiny fireball in her hand. "Here, warm the towel on this." Sun was starting to sweat. It wasn't from the heat of the fireball.  
  
"What's wrong with you!" Io started to approach Ryoga but Sun stood in the way. Io moved to the side and Sun moved alongside of her. Sun moved her hand near the towel in a sad attempt to heat the water.  
  
Io was getting mad. "Ok, what's going on?"  
  
"Oh... Nothing..." Sun spun around and grabbed Ryoga's table and started wheeling it toward her station.  
  
"You come back here you jerk!" Io followed Sun. Sun kept pushing the cart holding Ryoga around the cleaning area. Io doubled back to try to cut her off. Sun started jogging and ran around the area in a circle trying to keep Ryoga away from Io's wet towel.  
  
Ryoga woke up and groaned. "Where am I?"  
  
Sun knew this was going to end badly. Her luck dictated no other outcome. She still had to try. She pushed the cart past a pile of dry towels and grabbed one. She started to rub Ryoga's arm to clean it. Ryoga cried out in pain, "Ouch! Stop that Ranma!"  
  
Sun was furious that he called her by her real name. She stopped the cart and hit him on the neck stunning him. She looked around and saw that no one heard Ryoga's comment. She breathed a sigh of relief. She was pushed to the ground.  
  
Io stood above Sun. "Honestly. What's gotten into you?" Io dropped the towel on Ryoga's chest. "Have you lost your..." Io looked at Ryoga and saw he was gone. P-Chan was lying in the center of the table on his back. He rolled over to his side still asleep.  
  
Sun buried her head in her hands. She knew she was dead now. The method of execution was still being decided but the outcome was certain.  
  
Io stood there looking at P-Chan. She blinked. "P-Chan! What are... Uh... What... Uh..." She wanted to pick up the pig and hold it against her bosom like she always did. She wanted to throw it into a meat grinder. She wanted to take P-Chan to bed with her tonight. She wanted to drop kick it to Hawaii. She wanted to give it some of her parfait. She wanted to boil it in oil.  
  
** Flashback **  
  
Akane saw a black pig bouncing around in her bedroom. The pig took a flying leap at her and she swatted it into the corner. "A little pig? I wonder how he got in here?" Akane bent down and gently called the pig to her. It growled at first, and then slowly allowed her to pick it up. The pig was all wet from the rain. She felt sorry for it and dried it off. She went downstairs to show off her new pet to Ranma.  
  
Ranko was sitting next to the neighbor's dog. Ranko seemed to have been talking to it for some strange reason. "Hey! Where did you get the weird looking pig?"  
  
Akane saw that the pig reacted violently to Ranko. She had to softly talk to the pig and squeeze it against her bosom to quiet it down.  
  
Ranko peeked at the pig, "I think it's blushing." She took the pig from Akane and looked at it. "Hah! It's a he!" The pig then attacked Ranko as if it was embarrassed at being examined in that part of its body.  
  
Akane took the pig back. "Hey isn't that the Yamata's dog?"   
  
Ranko gave a look of surprise and left the room. She came back shortly thereafter with a kettle of hot water. "Look away for second will you?" Ranko turned Akane's head away and poured hot water on the dog. The dog just sat there.  
  
Ranko said she was going to take a bath. Akane saw that the pig was filthy and gave it to Ranko to bathe it.  
  
Shortly thereafter, the pig ran squealing out of the bathroom with a very angry Ranko chasing it. She was talking to it like it was a person. A person?  
  
** End flashback **  
  
Io wondered. Why did Ranko pour hot water on the dog? Why did she talk to the pig as if it was a person?  
  
** Flashback **  
  
"I can't believe Ranma is jealous of a pig!" Akane spoke to her pig. She tucked her pig in her bed and went to sleep.   
  
Ranma came into the window. Akane awoke when Ranma was lying on top of her. As she gave him the beating he deserved, he was shouting, "It's not what it looks like! It's Ryoga!"  
  
Akane was furious. "Where! Where is Ryoga! I don't see him! Only you!" Akane smashed her bokken on Ranma's chest hurling him out the window. She regained her composure, drew the drapes and went back to bed. She could have sworn the pig stuck its tongue out at the open window. It was taunting Ranma.  
  
** End flashback **  
  
Io thought about it. Why was Ranma saying that Ryoga was in the room when only the pig was there?  
  
** Flashback **  
  
"P-Chan! P-Chan!" Akane was searching the dojo for her little pet pig. She thought, "What's with P-Chan? He seems to get lost easily."  
  
** End Flashback **  
  
Io looked down at the sleeping pig. "He has the same sense of direction as Ryoga."  
  
** Flashback **  
  
Akane and Ryoga were on a rowboat in the lake at the park. Ryoga was trying to speak to Akane but the words never came out. Ranma and Ukyou were in another rowboat. Ranma taunted Ryoga, "P-Chan! The little piggy goes Oink! Oink!"  
  
Ryoga got upset. "Stop saying that Ranma!"  
  
** End Flashback **  
  
Io started getting angry. "Ranma called Ryoga P-Chan." She turned red. "He called him pork butt." She reached for a bedpan from the table. "He called him bacon breath." She put water in the bedpan. "How could I have been so BLIND?"  
  
Io flashed her gaze at Sun. Sun was still on the ground covering her head. Io grabbed her hand and held it under the bedpan. She commanded. "Sun, make a fireball."  
  
Sun sheepishly produced a fireball in her palm. Io held her hand under the bedpan. In a moment, steam started to rise and she let go of Sun's hand. Sun begged, "Please don't do that."  
  
Io ignored her. She poured the water on P-Chan. Ryoga's naked body appeared where P-Chan once lay. Io dropped the bedpan on the floor and stood there. Her mind was reeling. Thoughts flooded in, "He slept in my bed. He saw me change. He was in the girl's locker room. He snuggled on my chest. He never told me."  
  
A mallet appeared in Io's hand. She calmly brought it up above her head. She held it there for a second. Shivered and brought it down on Sun's head. "YOU KNEW!"  
  
Sun was flattened. Io breathed hard as she recovered from the exertion she put into the mallet strike. She had to. As a Senshi, Sun could withstand most mallet strikes. She needed to strike her with all her might to cause Sun pain. Io wanted Sun to feel pain.  
  
Ryoga awoke at the sound of the strike. He bolted upright and looked around. He saw that he was lying on a table next to a beautiful Sailor Senshi and he was naked. Naked? He blushed and covered up his private area. He made a smile of embarrassment. He saw a towel on the table and grabbed it. The towel was damp with cold water. He became P-Chan again.  
  
Io focused her attention on P-Chan. "You little PERVERT!" She raised her mallet to make a pork pancake. P-Chan squealed in shock and jumped out of the way before the mallet destroyed the cart. "Come back here!"  
  
P-Chan didn't know what to do. He had no idea why this Senshi wanted him dead. Wait! She saw him transform! She must think that he was a youma. He had to find hot water to change back to explain it to her. He jumped out of the way and out of the tented area. Sailor Io was in hot pursuit.  
  
P-Chan ran under tables and over cots. He couldn't ditch the crazed Senshi from the pursuit. She must possess martial arts skills since she was able to ki jump like he did. P-Chan saw an open window on the second floor of the hospital and jumped in.   
  
The room was a children's ward. The kids looked at him. "Ahh!! A cute little piggy!" A five-year-old boy grabbed P-Chan and held him tight.  
  
Sailor Io jumped in the window and saw who had the pig. "Little boy, I need that pig. Uh... It's my pet."  
  
The little boy was not convinced. She was holding the mallet in a threatening manner. "It's my piggy!" P-Chan popped out of the boy's grasp and ran for the door.  
  
Sailor Io called out, "Here piggy piggy! I've got something for you!" She ran to the door. The door opened as a nurse came in to see what was the matter. P-Chan bolted into the hallway and ran as fast as he could to the stairway. Sailor Io was in hot pursuit. P-Chan saw the sign that said Exit and tried to turn left. He couldn't change direction on the slippery linoleum floor and spun out of control under a wheeled cart of medical supplies. Io applied the brakes and slid to a stop next to the cart. She kicked the cart to the side and smashed the ground where the cart was.  
  
Io smiled. She lifted her mallet to admire her handiwork and saw no P-Chan parts. She quickly looked right and left for where the little critter disappeared. She saw the cart was moving by itself towards the exit and it made a right turn into the corridor to the stairs. "Ah ha!" She ran after the cart.  
  
P-Chan heard Io charge and ran out from under the cart and toward the stairway. He jumped down and quickly went back to the first floor. He controlled his speed to prevent losing control and bounced off the walls to avoid the people milling about. He ran for the front door.  
  
He was about to escape to freedom when Sailor Io landed from jumping out of the second story window. She cast her mallet aside and prepared a ki attack. "Thunder Hammer Strike!"  
  
The security guards jumped out of the way and the blast hit where P-Chan once stood. P-Chan reacted quick enough to dodge the blast and landed on a nurse's head. She screamed and P-Chan jumped off and ran the other way to escape through the back entrance.  
  
Io had a grimace on her face. She was not done yet. "That's it! You're sausage!" She ran after the little porker.  
  
Several people tried to grab P-Chan. They thought they would get a free meal if they helped the Senshi catch this escaping entree. P-Chan bit one hand and bounced off the walls to avoid the rest. He made it to the exit and ran out into the open air.  
  
He turned and ran under the bushes outside of the hospital. Io leapt over the startled people and landed next to the bushes. "Die Ryoga! Lava Blast!" She incinerated half of the bushes with her ball of lava. P-Chan was in the other half. He didn't want to stick around. He saw in a tent off in the distance a white smoke plume. He hoped that it was steam. He went in that direction as fast as his little piggy legs could carry him.  
  
Io saw the blur and was about to cast Lava blast again. There were too many people around so she canned the idea. "Oh no you don't!" She ki jumped and landed in front of P-Chan. P-Chan ran between her legs and then changed direction to run under some parked cars.  
  
Io spun around and wanted so badly to incinerate the cars to put P-Chan out of her misery. She ran out to the street so she could get a good look under the cars. She got on all fours and looked under the vehicles. She didn't see him. She used her Senshi senses and felt his presence. She got up and went to the forth car and pointed her hands at the rear wheel well. "Come out P-Chan!"  
  
P-Chan was hiding behind the tire. He was shivering from fright. This Senshi was going to roast him for being a youma. He wanted to show her that he was human. "Thunder Hammer..."  
  
Io's arms were pushed up by Sailor Sun. Sun shouted, "Knock it off!"  
  
"You keep out of it!" Io shouted back. P-Chan bolted to the tent with the white cloud. Io shoved Sun into the street. She ran after P-Chan again. Sun rolled in the street and had to ki jump into the air to prevent her from getting run over by a troop transport that was driving by at that moment.  
  
Io muttered. "Where is that little runt?" A moment later she heard people shouting in the refugee camp. She followed the commotion.  
  
People in the camp were all chasing after the pig. "Don't let him get away!" "Here piggy piggy!" "Where's dinner?" "Anyone got a wok?" "Mmm... Bacon!" The camp was in turmoil. Everyone was chasing the little pig trying to get some fresh meat for a change. P-Chan ran to the machine that was making the smoke. It was power generator that was burning oil making a white foul smelling cloud.  
  
P-Chan whimpered. He heard his adversary behind him. "I've got you now!" She produced another mallet and smashed the ground where he stood again. P-Chan bounced off the tent pole and through a hole in the canvas. He was on top of the tent and he ran to the highest point. He paused to take a look around. He saw a building marked Red Cross with white smoke and a line of people going into the building. There were people milling about eating food. There had to be hot water there. He slid down the canvas just as Sailor Io landed on the tip of the pole. Io started waving her hands in the air as she lost her balance and slid face first in the opposite direction.  
  
P-Chan leapt off the tent as he ran out of canvas and ran under tables to try to keep that insane Senshi away from him. He darted between people's legs and ran inside the food center and slid on the slippery floor. He crashed into the base of a table. The people seated there looked down to see what was the source of the noise.  
  
"Oh, what a cute little pig." A woman in her twenties picked up P-Chan and held him. "You must be lost." Her husband looked at the pig and thought of what was the best way to prepare it for tonight's dinner.  
  
The door was slammed open and the silhouette of a very angry woman in a mini-skirt could be seen. She lifted her mallet over her head and charged the table where P-Chan was. "Give me that pig!"  
  
The woman tossed the pig to the Senshi and Io aimed her mallet to strike it in mid-air. Sailor Sun grabbed P-Chan and jumped out of the way so Io swung in empty air. Sailor Sun flashed out.  
  
Sailor Io landed with a thud on the ground. She took a moment to get back up. "ARGH!" She stood there for a minute calming down. She released her anger and used her Senshi sense to see where Sun was. The mallet disappeared and she walked out of the food center.  
  
The woman who had the pig told her husband. "I guess even the Senshi are fighting over the fresh meat."  
  
The husband replied, "I didn't know the Senshi were so violent."  
  
  
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Sailor Sun was sitting on the roof of the hospital holding P-Chan by the neck. "You owe me pork butt."  
  
P-Chan struggled. "Squee! Squee!"   
  
"Same to you buddy."  
  
A few minutes later, Sailor Io landed on the roof. She had in her hands Ryoga's pants and a bedpan with water. Sun stood up. Io threw the pants to the ground and held out the bedpan.  
  
Sun created a fireball and heated the water. P-Chan didn't know what to make of it but he was happy that they were going to change him back to human form. Io poured the water on P-Chan. Ryoga quickly pulled his pants on.  
  
Ryoga turned to Sailor Sun and looked at Io. "I'm not a youma! I have a Jusenkyo curse!"  
  
Io held her arms akimbo. "You do eh?"  
  
"Yes! I fell into the spring of drowned black piglet!"  
  
Io shot a glare to Sailor Sun. "How long have you had this curse?"  
  
"About two years," he pointed at Sailor Sun, "she's the one who did this to me!"  
  
Sun took a step back, "Hey! Don't go blaming this on me!"  
  
Io got wide eyed. "He knows who you are?"  
  
"It was a mistake ok!"  
  
Ryoga got angry. "Mistake! If you weren't chasing that panda, this wouldn't have happened!"  
  
"If you hadn't followed me to China you wouldn't have been at Jusenkyo!"  
  
"I wouldn't have followed you had you not chickened out of our duel!"  
  
"Chickened out! I waited for you for three days!"  
  
"I got there on the fourth day!"  
  
"It took you four days to go next door?"  
  
"I usually take a week!"  
  
Sailor Io decided the proper course of action. "Thunder Hammer Strike!"  
  
Sailor Sun and Ryoga paused their argument long enough to see the ki blast blow them off the building and onto the parking lot below.  
  
  
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Ryoga awoke on a table. A nurse was cleaning him. He fainted of embarrassment.  
  
  
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Sailor Io was weeping. "I didn't know."  
  
Sun was hugging her. "He lost his wife. He needs a friend right now more than anything.  
  
"Poor Ryoga." Io felt sorry for him. He may have never confessed about being P-Chan, but after Sun explained his long life story. She understood. Io was angry with herself for not seeing the truth for all those years. She couldn't believe that she had been so blind. Ryoga needed a friend right now. She was going to be his friend.  
  
  
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Ryoga woke up again. A young Senshi with long black hair and a dark purple skirt came up to him. Another Senshi with green hair was next to her. The black haired one placed her hands on him. He felt warm. He looked up and saw Sailor Sun. She struck his neck.  
  
  
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Ryoga woke up in a private hospital room. A Sailor Scout with blue-black hair in a yellow skirt came in and shut the door. She had dirty gloves and her dress was soiled. She transformed into Akane. He shook his head. He didn't really see that did he?  
  
Akane came next to him with a hot towel. She wiped his face. "How are you feeling P-Chan?"  
  
Ryoga was in shock. He was barely awake. He thought. "P-P-P-Chan?"  
  
Sailor Sun came in, saw Akane and quickly shut the door. "I've got the campsite ready."  
  
Akane smiled to Sun. "I'll be finished in a minute."  
  
Sun looked at Ryoga. "Was he awake when you changed?"  
  
Akane shrugged. "I don't think so." She touched his head. "He seems to still be unconscious."  
  
Sun hit his neck again to stun him. "Well, he's unconscious now."  
  
"You didn't have to do that."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I wanted to do it."  
  
Sun gave out a little laugh. "Transform so we can get this idiot out of here."  
  
Akane transformed and her fuku she was wearing was completely clean and her body had an instant bath. "There, much better."  
  
Sun grabbed Io and flashed out. Fifteen seconds later, she reappeared, grabbed Ryoga and flashed out again.  
  
  
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Author's Notes: I promised this side story. So here it is.  
  
This story would not exist without the inspiration I got from "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel  
  
Additional public and private C&C welcomed!  
  
Bill Heineman  
November 29, 2002  
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burger@contrabandent.com  
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